Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a 20,000-litre fuel tanker fitted with a concealed compartment for illicit drugs and recovered 2,145kg of cannabis hidden alongside its legitimate fuel cargo in Ondo State.
The tanker, marked MKA 960 XC and reportedly notorious for evading arrest in the past, was chased down by NDLEA officers along the Akoko/Lokoja Expressway on Friday, September 4, after its driver refused to stop, according to a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday.
Babafemi said the driver later abandoned the vehicle at a church premises in Ugbe Akoko and fled into the bush.
He said 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.
The development was part of a coordinated sweep by the Agency across Lagos, Adamawa, Ondo, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu states, during which operatives arrested a convicted cocaine trafficker who disguised himself as a herbal tea merchant and recovered several consignments of cannabis, tramadol, methamphetamine and other psychotropic substances.
He said in Lagos, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) tracked and arrested the mastermind behind a 1.2kg cocaine consignment concealed in phone chargers and destined for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The consignment was intercepted at a courier company in Lagos on July 31, 2026, after which the operatives began painstaking, intelligence-led operations to identify and apprehend the person behind the shipment.
The suspect, identified as 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, September 4, while posing as a herbal tea businessman.
Babafemi said the suspect admitted to masterminding illicit drug shipments in the past, adding that he discarded his telephone SIM card after learning that his latest consignment had been intercepted by the NDLEA.
He said further investigation revealed that Ebubechukwu was no stranger to the Agency, having first been arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, after ingesting 900 grammes of cocaine and 130 grammes of heroin in an attempt to fly to Austria under the name Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch.
He was prosecuted for the offence, convicted and sentenced to five years in jail.
Babafemi said the suspect thereafter changed his name to Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu and returned to the criminal trade.
A search of his residence at 6 Yemishola Street, Ejigbo, Lagos, on Friday, September 4, led to the recovery of phone chargers similar to those used to conceal the intercepted cocaine.
Babafemi said the internal components of the chargers had been removed to create space for the drugs.
He also disclosed that at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives recovered 966,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg, worth over N1.1 billion, concealed among thrift trousers in a 21-carton consignment from Pakistan.
The operatives also recovered 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.
The consignment had lain unclaimed for weeks before NDLEA officers, Customs, and other security agencies conducted a joint examination on Thursday, September 3.
At Tincan Port in Lagos, another 598.08kg, comprising 890 packets, of cannabis-laced cookies and gummies was intercepted on Wednesday, September 2, in a 40-foot container.
The seizure came barely a month after three suspects – Yashim Dauji, Larry Ifeanyi and Joseph Moji – were arrested at the port over the seizure of 842.54kg of cannabis-laced cookies.
The latest consignment was linked to the suspects already in custody.
In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Damilu and Jambutu axis in Jimeta, Yola North Local Government Area, on Friday, September 4, recovered 864,000 pills of opioids, especially tramadol, from a residence linked to a fleeing suspect, Patrick KC Frank.
Babafemi said Frank’s Honda Civic rammed an NDLEA patrol vehicle before he escaped.
In another interdiction operation in the Michika area of the state, a major methamphetamine supplier from Lagos to the Mubi and Michika axis, 35-year-old Calistus Ebubechukwu, was arrested on Friday, September 4, with a total of 2kg of methamphetamine.
He added that, similarly, 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 the Namtari checkpoint in Mubi on Monday, August 31.
Babafemi said that in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Friday, September 4, recovered 2,386.9kg of cannabis, 350 grammes of cocaine, over 100kg of assorted grades of tramadol, 9.7 litres of codeine syrup and 4kg of Rohypnol in the Gbaji area of the state.
Two suspects, Damilare Francis and Emeh Emmanuel, were also arrested with 720kg of cannabis in the Agbara area.
According to the statement, in Kogi State, 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 the Okene/Lokoja Highway.
In Taraba State, 58-year-old Kelechi Unachukwu was arrested along Zaki-Biam Road, Wukari Local Government Area, with a cocktail of over 109kg of tramadol, diazepam, pentazocine, phenobarbital, Exol-5, nitrazepam, bromazepam and pregabalin.
The statement indicated that the drugs were being transported in his Toyota Corolla, marked KUJ-333BT, from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Yola, Adamawa State.
It also said that in Kaduna State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a truck loaded with bags of cement along the Zaria-Kano Expressway, leading to the recovery of 1,179kg of skunk.
In a follow-up operation after the seizure of 322.5kg of cannabis at Deba town, Gombe State, on Tuesday, September 1, NDLEA operatives arrested 25-year-old Hamza Dahiru in Bauchi State, Babafemi said.
He said that in Ekiti State, two suspects, Chuks Alex, 50, and Asafa Adekunle, 35, were arrested after NDLEA operatives uncovered and destroyed a four-hectare cannabis farm in the Efon-Alaaye forest.
The operatives also recovered 117kg of already-harvested skunk from the farm.
Similarly, 20-year-old Obinna David was arrested at Ugbema Junction, Enugu State, with 40,590 capsules of tramadol on Saturday, September 5, he said.
Meanwhile, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities, among others, during the past week.
Babafemi said the activities included a WADA enlightenment lecture for nursing mothers and nurses at Ibereko Primary Health Centre, Abeokuta North, Ogun State; youths of the Umouji/Okwo community at Olokoro, Umuahia South Local Government Area, Abia State; and NLNG staff and concessionaires at Saipem-Daewoo, NLNG terminal, Bonny Local Government Area, 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 the Agency’s current balanced approach to drug control efforts.
Marwa reiterated that the Agency would continue to track traffickers who attempt to evade arrest by changing their identities or operating under legitimate business fronts.
‘Traffickers who believe they can reinvent themselves under new identities or legitimate business fronts will continue to be tracked down,’ he said.