NDLEA Arrests Convicted Cocaine Trafficker Disguised As Herbal Tea Merchant

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended  a convicted cocaine trafficker who disguised himself as a herbal tea merchant.

Naija News reports that the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement.

According to the statement, 1.2kg cocaine consignment was 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 successfully tracked the mastermind through painstaking intelligence-led operations.

The suspect, 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu was 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.

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.

Also, in a coordinated sweep across the country, the agency 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.