Herbal tea businessman behind cocaine shipments to Saudi Arabia arrested in Lagos as operatives intercept fuel tanker laden with hard drugs

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a convicted cocaine trafficker who allegedly disguised himself as a herbal tea merchant,

A statement from Femi Babafemi, spokesperson of the agency, says that 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 July 31, operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) in NDLEA, 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, September 4 while posing as a herbal tea businessman, was identified as 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu.

Babafemi stated that the suspect in his confessional statement, 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.

Babafemi added that 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, September 4, 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” he said

The statement further mentioned that 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, September 4, after its driver refused to stop. Babafemi said 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.