The arrested suspect
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 in Lagos.
The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen on Sunday in Lagos.
Mr Babafemi said the suspect’s arrest follows 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.
He said the operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) in NDLEA successfully tracked the mastermind through painstaking intelligence-led operations.
Accordingbtomhim, 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.
