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, arrested a convicted cocaine trafficker posing as a herbal tea merchant, and recovered large consignments of cannabis, tramadol, methamphetamine, and other psychotropic substances across nine states.
The fuel tanker, bearing registration number MKA 960 XC and notorious for evading arrest, was pursued along the Akoko/Lokoja expressway in Ondo State on Friday, September 4, 2026, after the driver defied orders to stop.
The driver eventually abandoned the vehicle on a church compound in Ugbe Akoko and fled into the bush.
A search of the tanker uncovered a false compartment concealing 165 bags of cannabis weighing 2,145 kg alongside legitimate fuel cargo destined for Jos, Plateau State.
In Lagos, operatives tracked down 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu, who was arrested in a sting operation at Article Market, opposite the Trade Fair Market in Ojo, where he operated under the guise of a herbal tea merchant. His arrest followed the July 31 interception of 1.2 kg of cocaine hidden in phone chargers bound for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, through a courier company.
A search of his Ejigbo residence yielded gutted phone chargers modified for drug concealment. Ebubechukwu was previously convicted in 2011 after attempting to traffic 900 grams of cocaine and 130 grams of heroin to Austria under the alias Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch, serving a five-year prison sentence before resuming operations under a new identity.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, operatives seized 966,200 tablets of 225 mg Tramadol valued at over ₦1.1 billion concealed within thrift trousers from Pakistan, alongside 57.80 kg of synthetic cannabis (“Loud”) valued at over ₦173 million hidden among disposable gloves shipped from Singapore.
At Tincan Port, officers uncovered an additional 598.08 kg of cannabis-infused cookies and gummies in a 40-foot container, linked to three suspects arrested a month prior for an 842.54 kg seizure. Within the state, raids in the Gbaji and Agbara areas yielded over 3.1 tonnes of cannabis, cocaine, assorted tramadol, codeine syrup, and rohypnol.
Interdiction operations across eight other states recorded substantial recoveries and arrests.
In Adamawa, operatives recovered 864,000 opioid pills from the residence of fleeing suspect Patrick KC Frank in Jimeta, arrested Calistus Ebubechukwu in Michika with 2 kg of methamphetamine, and intercepted Attahiru Hussaini at the Namtari checkpoint with 750,027,530 pills of opioids concealed in a soap-laden bus. Along the Okene/Lokoja highway in Kogi, three suspects were intercepted transporting 636 kg of cannabis concealed in chicken manure en route to Jos.
In Taraba, Kelechi Unachukwu was arrested in Wukari LGA while transporting over 109 kg of assorted prescription opioids and psychotropic drugs from Onitsha to Yola. A cement truck intercepted along the Zaria-Kano expressway in Kaduna yielded 1,179 kg of skunk, while follow-up operations led to the arrest of Hamza Dahiru in Bauchi in connection with a 322.5 kg seizure in Gombe State.
Furthermore, operatives destroyed a 4-hectare cannabis farm in the Efon-Alaaye forest in Ekiti, seizing 117 kg of harvested skunk and arresting two suspects, while another suspect was apprehended at Ugbema Junction in Enugu with 40,590 capsules of tramadol.
Alongside enforcement, the agency maintained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign across Ogun, Abia, and Rivers states. NDLEA Chairman/CEO Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) commended the commands involved, reiterating that traffickers attempting to conceal their activities behind legitimate fronts or aliases will be pursued and brought to justice.