ABUJA, Nigeria – Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a convicted cocaine trafficker operating under the cover of a herbal tea merchant in Lagos, intercepted a 20,000-litre fuel tanker modified with a concealed drug compartment in Ondo State, and seized massive consignments of opioids, methamphetamine, and synthetic cannabis across nine states, the anti-narcotics agency announced in Abuja on Sunday, September 6, 2026.
The coordinated multi-agency sweep spanned tactical interdiction operations conducted across Lagos, Adamawa, Ondo, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba, and Enugu states, targeting illicit trafficking cartels utilizing commercial transport infrastructure and postal networks.
Okay News reports that the arrested kingpin, 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu, was apprehended during an intelligence-led sting operation conducted by operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) at Article Market, opposite Trade Fair Complex along the Badagry Expressway in the Ojo area of Lagos on Friday, September 4, 2026.
Investigators launched surveillance on the suspect after intercepting a 1.2-kilogram consignment of pure cocaine concealed within mobile phone chargers bound for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at a commercial courier hub in Lagos on July 31, 2026.
According to an official statement issued by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Ebubechukwu admitted during interrogation that he masterminded previous cross-border narcotics shipments and discarded his telephone subscriber identity module (SIM) card immediately after discovering the courier shipment had been compromised.
Official records confirmed that the suspect had previously been arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja after ingesting 900 grams of cocaine and 130 grams of heroin in an attempt to board a flight to Austria under the alias Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch, which resulted in a five-year prison sentence before he altered his legal identity to return to transnational trafficking.
A subsequent forensic search of his residential apartment located at 6 Yemishola Street in Ejigbo, Lagos, yielded batches of hollowed-out phone chargers identical to those used in the intercepted Saudi Arabia shipment, with internal electrical circuitry removed to conceal illicit drugs.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, joint inspection operations conducted with the Nigeria Customs Service on Thursday, September 3, 2026, led to the recovery of 966,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg valued at over ₦1.1 billion hidden inside 21 cartons of imported thrift trousers from Pakistan, alongside 57.80 kilograms of “Loud,” a potent synthetic cannabis strain worth over ₦173 million, concealed in abandoned shipments of medical gloves from Singapore.
In Ondo State, NDLEA tactical highway patrol units intercepted a 20,000-litre petroleum tanker marked MKA 960 XC along the Akoko–Lokoja Expressway on Friday after a high-speed pursuit, discovering a fabricated false compartment containing 165 bags of cannabis weighing 2,145 kilograms concealed beside its legitimate fuel cargo destined for Jos, Plateau State, after the driver abandoned the vehicle at a church compound in Ugbe Akoko and fled into nearby bushes.
At the Tincan Island Port in Lagos, marine narcotics operatives intercepted an additional 598.08 kilograms—comprising 890 retail packets—of cannabis-infused confectionery cookies and gummies inside a 40-foot container on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, linking the shipment to three suspects previously arrested over an 842.54-kilogram infused edible seizure at the seaport.
Regional interdictions across northern and southeastern corridors yielded further major recoveries, including 864,000 opioid pills and two kilograms of crystalline methamphetamine intercepted in Jimeta and Michika in Adamawa State, 2,386.9 kilograms of cannabis and assorted pharmaceutical syrups recovered in Gbaji and Agbara in Lagos, 636 kilograms of cannabis concealed in organic chicken manure along the Okene–Lokoja highway in Kogi State, over 109 kilograms of mixed prescription sedatives seized in Wukari, Taraba State, 1,179 kilograms of skunk hidden inside a cement haulage truck in Kaduna, a dismantled four-hectare cannabis plantation in Efon-Alaaye forest in Ekiti State, and 40,590 tramadol capsules seized at Ugbema Junction in Enugu State.
Commending the participating commands for operational precision, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), reaffirmed the agency’s resolve to dismantle commercial distribution rings, warning that traffickers who attempt to reinvent their criminal enterprises behind legitimate storefronts or assumed identities will be tracked down and prosecuted.
