A 20,000-litre fuel tanker fitted with a concealed compartment used to transport 2,145 kilogrammes of cannabis has been intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) along the Akoko-Lokoja Expressway in Ondo State. The tanker, marked MKA 960 XC, was intercepted on Friday, September 4, 2026, after its driver allegedly refused to stop when NDLEA officers flagged it down.
The driver later abandoned the vehicle at a church premises in Ugbe Akoko and fled into the bush. A search of the tanker uncovered a false compartment concealed within the vehicle, where 165 bags of cannabis, weighing a total of 2,145kg, were hidden alongside the legitimate fuel cargo reportedly destined for Jos, Plateau State. The NDLEA said the tanker had become notorious for evading arrest in previous operations, making its interception a significant breakthrough in the agency’s intelligence-led efforts to disrupt drug trafficking networks.
The tanker seizure formed part of a wider coordinated crackdown by NDLEA operatives across Lagos, Adamawa, Ondo, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ekiti, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu states, resulting in the recovery of large quantities of cannabis, tramadol, methamphetamine, codeine and other psychotropic substances. In Lagos, operatives recovered 966,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg, valued at more than ₦1.1 billion, concealed among thrift trousers in a 21-carton consignment from Pakistan. Another 57.80kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis valued at more than ₦173 million, was recovered from a shipment from Singapore. The agency also intercepted 598.08kg of cannabis-laced cookies and gummies in a 40-foot container at the Tincan Port in Lagos.
In a related operation, NDLEA operatives arrested the mastermind of a deal that would have seen 1.2kg of cocaine concealed in phone chargers leave for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The suspect, 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu, was arrested at Trade Fair Market in the Ojo area of Lagos on Friday, September 4, while posing as a herbal tea businessman. The NDLEA said Ebubechukwu admitted to being the mastermind of illicit drug shipments in the past. He had previously been arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, after ingesting 900 grams of cocaine and 130 grams of heroin in an attempt to fly to Austria, and was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison under the name Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch. He later changed his name and allegedly returned to drug trafficking.
Other seizures across the country included 636kg of cannabis concealed in chicken manure aboard a bus travelling from Ondo State to Jos along the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi State, and 1,179kg of skunk recovered from a truck carrying cement along the Zaria-Kano Expressway in Kaduna State. In Adamawa, NDLEA operatives recovered 864,000 opioid pills from a residence linked to a fleeing suspect.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the agency’s intelligence-led approach to combating drug trafficking.
The winners: the NDLEA, which has dealt a significant blow to drug trafficking networks across the country.
The losers: the drug traffickers, who have lost millions of naira worth of illicit substances, and the Nigerian public, who are protected from the harmful effects of these drugs.
Bottom Line: A fuel tanker carrying 2.1 tonnes of cannabis has been intercepted. The driver fled. The traffickers are losing. The NDLEA is winning. The question is whether the agency can sustain the momentum or the traffickers will find new ways to evade detection.