Lagos-Based Herbal Tea Dealer, DUNU BETHEL EBUBECHUKWU, Arrested for Cocaine Smuggling

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested one thirty-four-year-old DUNU BETHEL EBUBECHUKWU over an alleged attempt to smuggle a cocaine consignment to Saudi Arabia.

DUNU was picked up during a sting operation on Friday September 4, 2026, at the Article Market, opposite the Lagos Trade Fair Market in Ojo, where he operates as an herbal tea dealer.

The operation followed the interception of a one-point-two kilograms cocaine consignment concealed in phone chargers at a courier company in Lagos on July 31, 2026.

NDLEA spokesman, FEMI BABAFEMI, said operatives from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation successfully tracked down the suspected mastermind through painstaking intelligence-led operations.

BABAFEMI said further investigations revealed that the suspect had previously been arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos attempting to smuggle ingested cocaine and heroin to Austria under the name of DUNU CHUKWUYENRE ENOCH.

The NDLEA spokesman said the man was prosecuted for the crime back them, for which he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, before changing his name to DUNU BETHEL EBUBECHUKWU and returned to the criminal trade.

He said a search of his residence at No.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, which had their internal components removed to create space for drugs concealment.