Herbal tea businessman behind cocaine shipments to Saudi Arabia arrested in Lagos

By Femi Babafemi

*As NDLEA busts illicit drug-laden fuel tanker, recovers over 2 million pills of opioids, large consignments of skunk, meth in coordinated crackdown across 9 states

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, intercepted a 20,000-litre fuel tanker fitted with a concealed compartment 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.

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

The suspect, arrested in a sting operation at Article Market, opposite Trade Fair Market, Ojo area of Lagos, on Friday 4th September 2026 while posing as a herbal tea businessman, was identified as 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu. In his statement, he 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: 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. 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.

A search of his residence located at 6 Yemishola Street, Ejigbo, Lagos on Friday 4th September 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, hidden inside cartons of disposable hand gloves in a shipment from Singapore that had lain unclaimed for weeks before a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs and other security agencies was conducted on Thursday 3rd September.

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 4th September 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 2nd September 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 4th September 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 4th September 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 4th September 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 1st September.

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 5th September.

With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to nursing mothers and nurses at Ibereko Primary Health Centre, Abeokuta North, Ogun state; youths of Umouji/Okwo community at Olokoro, Umuahia South LGA, Abia, and NLNG staff and concessionaires at Saipem-Daewoo, NLNG terminal, Bonny LGA, Rivers state, among others.

While commending the officers and men of DOGI, MMIA, Ondo, Tincan, Lagos, Adamawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu Commands for their professionalism and intelligence-driven approach to the various successful operations, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the current balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency. He reiterated that traffickers who believe they can reinvent themselves under new identities or legitimate business fronts will continue to be tracked down.

*Femi Babafemi is Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja