The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested a 34-year-old man, Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu, whom it described as a previously convicted drug trafficker allegedly operating under a new identity and posing as a herbal tea businessman while masterminding illicit drug shipments.
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The agency said Ebubechukwu was arrested in a sting operation at Article Market, opposite Trade Fair Market in Ojo, Lagos, on Friday, September 4, 2026, following intelligence generated after the interception of a 1.2-kilogram cocaine consignment destined for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at a courier company in Lagos on July 31.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said the suspect allegedly admitted being behind some previous illicit drug shipments and had discarded his telephone SIM card after discovering that the latest consignment had been intercepted.
According to the agency, further investigation showed that the suspect had previously been arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, while allegedly attempting to travel to Austria after ingesting 900 grammes of cocaine and 130 grammes of heroin.
NDLEA said he was arrested at the time under the name Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
“He was prosecuted for the crime, convicted and sentenced to five years in jail. He thereafter changed his name to Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu and returned to the criminal trade,” Babafemi said.
The agency said a search of Ebubechukwu’s residence at 6 Yemishola Street, Ejigbo, Lagos, subsequently led to the recovery of phone chargers resembling those allegedly used to conceal the intercepted cocaine, with their internal components removed to create compartments for drugs.
The arrest formed part of a wider series of NDLEA operations across several states involving seizures of cocaine, cannabis, tramadol, methamphetamine and other controlled substances.
At the Lagos airport, the agency said its operatives intercepted 966,200 tablets of tramadol 225mg valued at more than ₦1.1 billion, allegedly concealed among thrift trousers in 21 cartons imported from Pakistan.
NDLEA also recovered 57.80kg of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis estimated at more than ₦173 million, allegedly concealed inside cartons of disposable hand gloves in a shipment from Singapore. The consignment had reportedly remained unclaimed for weeks before it was jointly examined by NDLEA, Customs and other security agencies on September 3.
In Ondo State, operatives reportedly pursued a 20,000-litre fuel tanker marked MKA 960 XC along the Akoko-Lokoja Expressway after the driver allegedly refused to stop.
The driver was said to have abandoned the tanker at a church premises in Ugbe Akoko and fled into the bush.
A subsequent search allegedly uncovered a concealed compartment containing 165 bags of cannabis weighing 2,145kg, alongside the tanker’s legitimate fuel cargo reportedly destined for Jos, Plateau State.
At Tincan Port in Lagos, NDLEA said operatives intercepted 598.08kg of cannabis-infused cookies and gummies, comprising 890 packets in a 40-foot container.
The agency linked the seizure to Yashim Dauji, Larry Ifeanyi and Joseph Moji, who had been arrested about a month earlier in connection with another seizure of 842.54kg of cannabis-laced cookies.
In Adamawa State, operatives recovered 864,000 opioid pills, mainly tramadol, from a residence allegedly linked to a fleeing suspect, Patrick KC Frank, in the Damilu and Jambutu axis of Jimeta, Yola North Local Government Area.
NDLEA said Frank escaped after his Honda Civic allegedly rammed an agency patrol vehicle.
Separately, Calistus Ebubechukwu, 35, was arrested in Michika with 2kg of methamphetamine, while Attahiru Hussaini was intercepted at the Namtari checkpoint in Mubi with tramadol and other opioids allegedly concealed in a soap-laden Ford Galaxy bus.
In another Lagos operation, the agency said it recovered 2,386.9kg of cannabis, 350 grammes of cocaine, more than 100kg of assorted tramadol, 9.7 litres of codeine syrup and 4kg of Rohypnol at Gbaji.
Two other suspects, Damilare Francis and Emeh Emmanuel, were also arrested at Agbara with 720kg of cannabis, according to the statement.
In Kogi State, Saidu Mustapha, 35; Zaharadeen Salisu, 29; and AbdulSalam Abdullahi, 25, were arrested with 636kg of cannabis allegedly concealed in chicken manure inside a bus travelling from Owo, Ondo State, to Jos, Plateau State.
In Taraba State, Kelechi Unachukwu, 58, was arrested along Zaki-Biam Road in Wukari Local Government Area with more than 109kg of assorted pharmaceutical opioids, including tramadol, diazepam, pentazocine, phenobarbital, Exol-5, nitrazepam, bromazepam and pregabalin.
NDLEA also said a truck carrying bags of cement was intercepted along the Zaria-Kano Expressway in Kaduna State with 1,179kg of skunk, while Hamza Dahiru, 25, was arrested in Bauchi in a follow-up operation connected with the seizure of 322.5kg of cannabis at Deba, Gombe State.
In Ekiti State, operatives arrested Chuks Alex, 50, and Asafa Adekunle, 35, after allegedly uncovering and destroying a four-hectare cannabis farm in the Efon-Alaaye forest, where 117kg of already harvested cannabis was recovered.
In Enugu State, Obinna David, 20, was arrested at Ugbema Junction with 40,590 capsules of tramadol, according to the agency.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the operations, describing the seizures as products of professionalism and intelligence-led enforcement.
Marwa warned traffickers against attempting to evade law enforcement by adopting new identities or disguising themselves behind legitimate businesses.
The NDLEA maintained that persons who attempt to reinvent themselves under different identities or commercial fronts would continue to be tracked and investigated.
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