By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia Reporter
CONVICTED COCAINE trafficker, Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu, who posed as a herbal tea merchant, has been arrested in Lagos as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency uncovered illicit drug consignments across nine states, including a fuel tanker fitted with a concealed compartment for cannabis.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the 34-year-old suspect, Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu, was arrested during a sting operation at Article Market, opposite Trade Fair Market, Ojo area of Lagos, on Friday 4 September 2026.
His arrest followed intelligence operations launched after NDLEA officers intercepted 1.2kg of cocaine concealed in phone chargers and destined for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at a courier company in Lagos on 31 July.
Ebubechukwu admitted that he masterminded some illicit drug shipments in the past and said he discarded his telephone SIM card after learning that the latest consignment had been intercepted.
Further investigation showed that he had previously been arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, in 2011 after ingesting 900 grams of cocaine and 130 grams of heroin while attempting to travel to Austria under the name Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch.
He was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to five years in jail before changing his name and returning to the illicit drug trade.
A search of his residence at 6 Yemishola Street, Ejigbo, Lagos, also recovered phone chargers similar to those used to conceal the intercepted cocaine. NDLEA said the internal components had been removed to create space for drugs.
At the Lagos airport, operatives recovered 966,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg worth more than N1.1 billion. The tablets were concealed among thrift trousers in a 21 carton consignment from Pakistan.
Officers also recovered 57.80kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, valued at more than N173 million in street value.
The drugs were hidden inside cartons of disposable hand gloves in a shipment from Singapore that had remained unclaimed for weeks before a joint examination involving NDLEA officers, Customs and other security agencies on Thursday 3 September.
In another operation, officers intercepted a 20,000 litre fuel tanker marked MKA 960 XC along the Akoko/Lokoja expressway in Ondo State on Friday 4 September after the 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 uncovered a false compartment containing 165 bags of cannabis weighing 2,145kg alongside its legitimate fuel cargo destined for Jos, Plateau State.
At Tincan Port in Lagos, NDLEA officers also intercepted 598.08kg, comprising 890 packets of cannabis laced cookies and gummies in a 40-foot container on Wednesday 2 September.
The seizure was linked to three suspects already in custody over the earlier seizure of 842.54kg of cannabis laced cookies.
In Adamawa State, officers recovered 864,000 opioid pills, especially tramadol, from a residence linked to a fleeing suspect, Patrick KC Frank, during a patrol along the Damilu and Jambutu axis in Jimeta, Yola North Local Government Area, on Friday 4 September. Frank’s Honda Civic car rammed an NDLEA patrol vehicle before he escaped.
A major methamphetamine supplier from Lagos to the Mubi and Michika axis, 35 year old Calistus Ebubechukwu, was also arrested in Michika with 2kg of methamphetamine.
At Namtari checkpoint in Mubi, officers intercepted Attahiru Hussaini on Monday 31 August with 750,027,530 pills of tramadol and other opioids concealed in a soap laden Ford Galaxy bus marked JJM 953XD.
In Lagos, officers recovered 2,386.9kg of cannabis, 350 grams of cocaine, more than 100kg of assorted tramadol grades, 9.7 litres of codeine syrup and 4kg of rohypnol at Gbaji on Friday 4 September. Two suspects, Damilare Francis and Emeh Emmanuel, were also arrested with 720kg of cannabis at Agbara.
Three suspects, Saidu Mustapha, 35, Zaharadeen Salisu, 29, and AbdulSalam Abdullahi, 25, were arrested with 636kg of cannabis concealed in chicken manure aboard a bus travelling from Owo, Ondo State, to Jos, Plateau State, along the Okene/Lokoja highway in Kogi State.
In Taraba State, 58 year old Kelechi Unachukwu was arrested along Zaki Biam road in Wukari Local Government Area with more than 109kg of tramadol, diazepam, pentazocine, phenobarbital, exol 5, nitrazepam, bromazepam and pregabalin. He was conveying the substances in a Toyota Corolla marked KUJ 333BT from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Yola, Adamawa State.
NDLEA officers also intercepted a truck loaded with bags of cement along the Zaria Kano expressway in Kaduna State and recovered 1,179kg of skunk. In Bauchi State, officers arrested 25 year old Hamza Dahiru in a follow up operation after seizing 322.5kg of cannabis at Deba town in Gombe State on Tuesday 1 September.
In Ekiti State, officers uncovered and destroyed a four-hectare cannabis farm in Efon Alaaye forest, arresting Chuks Alex, 50, and Asafa Adekunle, 35, and recovering 117kg of already harvested skunk.
In Enugu State, 20-year-old Obinna David was arrested at Ugbema Junction with 40,590 capsules of tramadol on Saturday 5 September.
The NDLEA also continued its War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation activities across the country, with programmes held in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.
JKNewsMedia.com also reports that the activities included an enlightenment lecture for nursing mothers and nurses at Ibereko Primary Health Centre in Abeokuta North, Ogun State, as well as engagements with youths in Umouji/Okwo community at Olokoro, Umuahia South Local Government Area, Abia State, and NLNG staff and concessionaires at Saipem Daewoo, NLNG terminal, Bonny Local Government Area, Rivers State.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the officers and men of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ondo, Tincan, Lagos, Adamawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu Commands for their professionalism and intelligence driven operations.
Marwa urged them and their colleagues across the country to maintain the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control efforts.
He reiterated that traffickers who believe they can reinvent themselves under new identities or legitimate business fronts will continue to be tracked down.
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