NDLEA Intercepts Drug-Laden Fuel Tanker, Recovers Over 2m Opioid Pills
By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a convicted cocaine trafficker posing as a herbal tea merchant and intercepted a 20,000-litre fuel tanker fitted with a concealed compartment for illicit drugs in a coordinated crackdown across nine states.
The NDLEA said on Sunday, that the herbal tea merchant, identified as 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu was arrested in Lagos on September 4 after intelligence operations traced him to a 1.2kg cocaine shipment concealed in phone chargers and destined for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ebubechukwu, previously convicted and jailed for cocaine and heroin trafficking in 2011, was found with similar phone chargers at his Ejigbo residence.
At the Lagos airport, operatives also seized 966,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg worth over N1.1 billion, 57.8kg of Loud cannabis valued at more than N173 million, while another 598.08kg of cannabis-laced cookies and gummies was intercepted at TinCan Port.
In Ondo, a tanker abandoned by its fleeing driver yielded 165 bags of cannabis weighing 2,145kg hidden in a false compartment alongside its legitimate fuel cargo.
In Adamawa, the agency recovered 864,000 opioid pills and arrested a suspected methamphetamine supplier with 2kg of the substance, while another suspect was intercepted with a large consignment of tramadol and other opioids.
Other seizures included 2,386.9kg of cannabis, 350g of cocaine, over 100kg of tramadol, codeine syrup and Rohypnol in Lagos; 636kg of cannabis in Kogi; and more than 109kg of assorted controlled medicines in Taraba.
The crackdown also produced 1,179kg of skunk in Kaduna, 322.5kg of cannabis in Gombe linked to an arrest in Bauchi, 117kg of harvested cannabis from a four-hectare farm in Ekiti, and 40,590 tramadol capsules in Enugu. The operations covered Lagos, Adamawa, Ondo, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu states.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the officers for their intelligence-led operations and warned traffickers that attempts to evade detection through new identities or legitimate business fronts would not shield them from the agency.
