NDLEA Arrests Cocaine Trafficker, Recovers 2 Million Opioid Pills, Other Illicit Substances in 9 States

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu, a convicted cocaine trafficker, who disguised himself as a herbal tea merchant, and recovered consignments of cannabis, tramadol, methamphetamine, and other psychotropic substances in Lagos, Adamawa, Ondo, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba, and Enugu States.

The NDLEA also intercepted a 20,000-litre fuel tanker fitted with a concealed compartment for illicit drugs.

Ebubechukwu, 34, was arrested in a sting operation at Article Market, opposite Trade Fair Market, in the Ojo area of Lagos, on Friday, September 4, 2026, while posing as a herbal tea businessman.

The Director of Media and Advocacy at the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement made available to ThelensNG on Sunday.

Babafemi noted that following the interception of a 1.2kg consignment of cocaine concealed in phone chargers and destined for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at a courier company in Lagos on July 31, 2026, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) successfully tracked the mastermind through painstaking intelligence-led operations.

In his statement, Ebubechukwu admitted to being the mastermind of some illicit drug shipments in the past, while stating that he discarded his telephone SIM card after learning that his latest consignment had been intercepted by the NDLEA.

Further investigation revealed that the suspect was no stranger to the Agency. He was first arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, after ingesting 900 grams of cocaine and 130 grams of heroin in an attempt to fly to Austria under the name Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch.

He was prosecuted for the crime, convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. He later changed his name to Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu and returned to the criminal trade.

A search of his residence 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 225mg Tramadol worth over ₦1.1 billion, concealed among thrift trousers in a 21-carton consignment from Pakistan.

They also recovered 57.80kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, worth over ₦173 million in street value. The substance was hidden inside cartons of disposable hand gloves in a shipment from Singapore that had remained unclaimed for weeks before a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs officials, and other security agencies was conducted on Thursday, September 3.

In what the Agency described as one of the week’s most brazen discoveries, a 20,000-litre fuel tanker marked MKA 960 XC, which was reportedly 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 Tin Can Port in Lagos over the seizure of 842.54kg of cannabis-laced cookies, another 598.08kg, comprising 890 packets of similarly infused cookies and gummies, was intercepted on Wednesday, September 2, in a 40-foot container at the port and linked to the suspects already in custody.

In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Damilu and Jambutu axes in Jimeta, Yola North Local Government Area, 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 rammed an NDLEA patrol vehicle before he escaped. In another operation in the Michika area of the state, a major methamphetamine supplier from Lagos to the Mubi and Michika axis, Calistus Ebubechukwu, 35, was arrested on Friday, September 4, with 2kg of the dangerous substance.

Also, 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 the Namtari checkpoint in Mubi on Monday, August 31.

NDLEA operatives recovered 2,386.9kg of cannabis, 350 grams of cocaine, over 100kg of assorted Tramadol grades, 9.7 litres of codeine syrup and 4kg of Rohypnol in the Gbaji area of Lagos State on Friday, September 4.

While two suspects — Damilare Francis and Emeh Emmanuel — were arrested with 720kg of cannabis in the Agbara area, 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 the Zaki-Biam Road in Wukari Local Government Area with a cocktail of over 109kg of Tramadol, diazepam, pentazocine, phenobarbital, Exol-5, nitrazepam, bromazepam and pregabalin, which he was conveying 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 in Kaduna State, with 1,179kg of skunk recovered.

In a follow-up operation following the seizure of 322.5kg of cannabis at Deba town, Gombe State, on Tuesday, September 1, NDLEA operatives arrested Hamza Dahiru, 25, in Bauchi.

Two suspects — Chuks Alex, 50, and Asafa Adekunle, 35 — were also arrested after NDLEA operatives uncovered and destroyed a four-hectare cannabis farm in Efon-Alaaye Forest, recovering 117kg of already harvested skunk in Ekiti State. A 20-year-old, Obinna David, was arrested at Ugbema Junction, Enugu, with 40,590 capsules of Tramadol on Saturday, September 5.

In the same vein, the Agency’s commands and formations across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, communities, and other places in the past week.

The activities included a WADA enlightenment lecture for nursing mothers and nurses at Ibereko Primary Health Centre, Abeokuta North, Ogun State; youths of Umouji/Okwo community in Olokoro, Umuahia South LGA, Abia State; and NLNG staff and concessionaires at the Saipem-Daewoo NLNG Terminal, Bonny LGA, Rivers State, among others.

Commenting on the arrests and seizures, the Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), commended the officers of DOGI, MMIA, Ondo, Tin Can, Lagos, Adamawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba, and Enugu Commands for their professionalism and intelligence-driven approach to the various successful operations.

Marwa urged them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the current balanced approach to the Agency’s 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.