NDLEA Arrests Herbal Tea Businessman Behind Cocaine Shipments To Saudi Arabia

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

Mr Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director, Media and Advocacy, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, saying the suspect was behind the shipment of cocaine to Saudi Arabia through Lagos.

Babafemi said that the arrests followed 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.

He said that operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) in NDLEA successfully tracked the mastermind through painstaking intelligence-led operations.

“The suspect 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.

“The suspect was identified as a 34-year-old man. In his statement, he admitted being the mastermind of some illicit drug shipments in the past.

“The suspect also stated that he discarded his telephone SIM card once he learnt his latest consignment had been intercepted by the NDLEA,”he said.

Babafemi said that further investigation revealed the suspect was no stranger to the agency, adding that he was first arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos.

This, he said, was 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 NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig.- Gen. Buba Marwa commended the officers and men of DOGI, MMIA and Lagos commands for their professionalism and intelligence-driven approach to the various successful operations.

He enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the current balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.

He reiterated that traffickers who believe they can reinvent themselves under new identities or legitimate business fronts will continue to be tracked down.

Source: NAN