NDLEA arrests alleged cocaine trafficker behind Saudi shipments

Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says it has arrested a suspected cocaine trafficker accused of arranging drug shipments to Saudi Arabia, while making major cannabis and opioid seizures in coordinated operations across several states.

The agency identified the suspect as 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu, who allegedly posed as a herbal tea businessman. NDLEA said its Directorate of Operations and General Investigation tracked him after intercepting 1.2 kilograms of cocaine at a courier company in Lagos on July 31. The cocaine, destined for Riyadh, had allegedly been hidden inside phone chargers.

Femi Babafemi, the agency’s director of media and advocacy, said operatives arrested Ebubechukwu in a sting operation at Article Market, opposite Trade Fair Market, in Lagos’s Ojo area, on Friday. According to the agency, he admitted masterminding earlier illicit shipments and said he discarded his SIM card after learning that the latest consignment had been intercepted.

NDLEA said Ebubechukwu had also been arrested at Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport in 2011 after allegedly ingesting 900 grams of cocaine and 130 grams of heroin while attempting to travel to Austria. The agency said he was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, then later changed his name before allegedly returning to drug trafficking. A search of his home in Ejigbo, Lagos, reportedly found phone chargers similar to those used in the intercepted shipment, with their internal components removed to create space for drugs.

In Ondo State, agents intercepted a 20,000-liter fuel tanker allegedly fitted with a hidden compartment. The agency said the driver abandoned the tanker at a church in Ugbe Akoko and fled into nearby bush after allegedly refusing to stop. A search found 165 bags containing 2,145 kilograms of cannabis alongside legitimate fuel cargo bound for Jos, Plateau State. At Lagos airport, NDLEA also seized 966,200 Tramadol 225mg tablets valued at more than 1.1 billion naira, hidden among thrift trousers in a 21-carton shipment from Pakistan, along with 57.80 kilograms of Loud cannabis concealed in cartons of disposable gloves.