By RhemDy News
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have, in a coordinated sweep across the country, arrested a convicted cocaine trafficker who disguised himself as a herbal tea merchant.
The operatives also intercepted a 20,000-litre fuel tanker fitted with a concealed
for illicit drugs, and recovered several other consignments of cannabis, tramadol, methamphetamine and other psychotropic substances in Lagos, Adamawa, Ondo, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu States.
NDLEA's spokesman, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, also revealed that operatives of the anti-narcotics agency successfully tracked the mastermind of an intercepted Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-bound 1.2kg cocaine consignment concealed in phone chargers at a courier company in Lagos on July 31, 2026.
Babafemi said the tracking of the mastermind followed painstaking intelligence-led operations resulting in the arrest of 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu in a sting operation at Article Market, opposite Trade Fair Market, Ojo area of Lagos, on Friday September 4, 2026 while posing as a herbal tea businessman.
According to Babafemi, Ebubechukwu, in his statement admitted being the mastermind of some illicit drug shipments in the past while stating that he discarded his telephone SIM card once he learnt his latest consignment had been intercepted by the NDLEA.
Further investigation revealed the suspect is no stranger to the agency as he was first arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos after ingesting 900grams of cocaine and 130grams of heroin in an attempt to fly to Austria under the name Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch.
The NDLEA's image maker noted that Ebubechukwu was prosecuted for the crime, convicted and sentenced to five years in jail.
However, he thereafter changed his name to Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu and returned to the criminal trade.
A search of his residence located at 6 Yemishola Street, Ejigbo, Lagos on Friday September 4 led to the recovery of phone chargers similar to those used to conceal the intercepted cocaine, with their internal components removed to create space for drugs.
At the Lagos airport, operatives recovered 966,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg worth over N1.1 billion concealed among thrift trousers in a 21-carton consignment from Pakistan, and 57.80kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, worth over N173 million in street value.
The illicit drugs were hidden inside cartons of disposable hand gloves in a shipment from Singapore that had been left unclaimed for weeks before a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs and other security agencies was conducted on Thursday September 3rd.
In one of the week's most brazen discoveries, a 20,000-litre fuel tanker marked MKA 960 XC, and notorious for evading arrest in the past was chased down by NDLEA officers along the Akoko/Lokoja expressway in Ondo State on Friday September 4 after its driver refused to stop.
The driver later abandoned the vehicle at a church premises in Ugbe Akoko, and fled into the bush.
A search of the tanker revealed a false compartment concealing 165 bags of cannabis weighing 2,145kg alongside its legitimate fuel cargo destined for Jos, Plateau State.
Barely a month after three suspects, Yashim Dauji, Larry Ifeanyi, and Joseph Moji were arrested at Tincan Port in Lagos over the seizure of 842.54kg of cannabis-laced cookies, another 598.08kg (890 packets) of similarly infused cookies and gummies were on Wednesday September 2 intercepted in a 40-foot container at the port and linked to the suspects already in custody.
In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Damilu and Jambutu axis in Jimeta, Yola North LGA, on Friday September 4 recovered 864,000 pills of opioids especially tramadol from a residence linked to a fleeing suspect, Patrick KC Frank, whose Honda Civic car rammed an NDLEA patrol vehicle before he escaped.
In another interdiction operation in
Michika area of the state, a major methamphetamine supplier from Lagos to Mubi and Michika axis, Calistus Ebubechukwu, 35, was arrested on Friday September 4 with a total of 2kg of the dangerous substance, while Attahiru Hussaini was intercepted with 750,027,530 pills of tramadol and other opioids concealed in a soap-laden Ford Galaxy bus marked JJM-953XD at Namtari check point in Mubi on Monday 31st August.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Friday September 4 recovered 2,386.9kg of cannabis, 350grams of cocaine, over 100kg of assorted tramadol grades, 9.7 litres of codeine syrup and 4kg of rohypnol at Gbaji area of the state, while two suspects - Damilare Francis and Emeh Emmanuel were arrested with 720kg of cannabis at Agbara area.
Three suspects: Saidu Mustapha, 35; Zaharadeen Salisu, 29; and AbdulSalam Abdullahi, 25, were nabbed with 636kg of cannabis concealed in chicken manure aboard a bus travelling from Owo, Ondo state to Jos, Plateau State along Okene/Lokoja Highway in Kogi State.
In Taraba, 58-year-old Kelechi Unachukwu, was arrested along Zaki-Biam road, Wukari LGA with a cocktail of over 109kg of tramadol, diazepam, pentazocine, phenobarbital, exol-5, nitrazepam, bromazepam and pregabalin being conveyed in his Toyota Corolla car marked KUJ-333BT from Onitsha, Anambra state to Yola, Adamawa State.
A truck loaded with bags of cement was intercepted by NDLEA operatives along the Zaria-Kano expressway, Kaduna with 1,179kg of skunk recovered while a suspect Hamza Dahiru, 25, was arrested by NDLEA operatives in Bauchi in a follow up operation following the seizure of 322.5kg of cannabis at Deba town, Gombe state on Tuesday September 1st.
In Ekiti State, two suspects: Chuks Alex, 50, and Asafa Adekunle, 35, were arrested after NDLEA operatives uncovered and destroyed a 4-hectare cannabis farm in Efon-Alaaye forest, recovering 117kg of already-harvested skunk, just as a 20-year-old Obinna David, was arrested at Ugbema Junction, Enugu with 40,590 capsules of tramadol on Saturday September 5.
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