National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi has disclosed that the suspected drug Lord behind the major operation in Southwest states, Henry Chukwuneku Okamaru (a.k.a. Lawrence Ik Okamaru), has been arrested.
NDLEA investigation revealed that Okamaru is one of the leaders of a cannabis cultivation cartel that operates in the Ondo-Ekiti axis, even as, according to Babafemi, he shuttled between Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Delta states, from where he coordinated supplies of illicit consignments to the Northern parts of the country and Lagos State.
Babafemi disclosed further that Okamaru was behind the 2000.6kg Cannabis Sativa seized in a concrete mixer truck in Adamawa State on December 2, 2021.
The drug lord, who also has a strong control and stake in cannabis cultivation in Ondo, Edo, Ekiti, Osun and Oyo states, with large storage facilities in Lagos and Abbi in Delta State from where his consignments are distributed year round, has also been identified as a member of an international drug trafficking ring, shuttling between Nigeria and South Africa, where his family is based.
He disclosed that other two Suspects, Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nmborgwu, were also arrested in connection with the consignment last December.
They had reportedly confessed that the concrete mixer truck with Lagos registration number SMK 890 XB was loaded with the illicit drug in Ogbese, Ondo state while they travelled for two months on the road before arriving Adamawa, where they were eventually arrested by NDLEA operatives.
In another development, a 36-year-old Italian-bases Nigerian, Nwakanma Michael Uche, has been arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, for ingesting pellets of heroin.
Nwakanma, who hails from Arodizuogu Village in Ideato Local Government Area of Imo State, was arrested while attempting to board Air France Airline enroute Abuja-Paris-Milan, Italy on Sunday, May 15, 2022.
“He was thereafter kept under observation, during which he excreted 95 pellets of the illicit drug”, the NDLEA image maker said, adding that the suspect claimed he came to see his parents in Nigeria after, 12 years in Italy, and to complete his father’s traditional marriage rites.
He was said to have added that he was to be paid N1.5million after a successful delivery of the drugs in Milan.
Also, in five states of Edo, Kaduna, Kogi, Akwa-Ibom and Oyo, NDLEA operatives intensified their offensive action against drug cartels and smashed some drug dealers.
In Edo, for instance, a pharmacy along Sapele Road, Benin, was raided on Friday, May 27, based on intelligence and prolonged surveillance, during which the store owner, 58-year-old Thaddeus Uliagbafusi, was arrested and subsequent recovery of 130,670 tablets of different controlled drugs, 1,396 ampoules of pentazocine injection and 743 bottles of codeine, recovered from a secret location, where the drugs were being repackaged.
“This followed a similar raid of a drug joint operated by Mrs. Christianah Gabriel, 53, at Uromi, Esan North East LGA, Edo state, who was arrested with 25kg cannabis.
“While 15,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection were seized by operatives in Kaduna along Abuja-Kaduna express road, 12,500 tablets of Diazepam were intercepted along Okene-Abuja highway on Thursday 26th May.
“The drug exhibits were found inside a truck conveying motor spare parts from Onitsha, Anambra to Kaduna.
“In Akwa Ibom, a female drug dealer, Irene Emmanuel Bassey was arrested on Saturday 28th May, during a search of her house at Ikpa town, Esit Eket LGA where 30.5kg cannabis was recovered, while one Muideen Rasaki was nabbed with 90.8kg cannabis at Elere, Boluwaji area of Ibadan South-East LGA”, the NDLEA said.
Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), commended the officers and men of the Directorate of Intelligence, NAIA, Edo, Kaduna, Kogi, Akwa Ibom and Oyo state commands of the Agency, for the series of arrests and seizures in the past week, and charged them and their compatriots across the country not to relent in their offensive action against drug cartels and their kingpins.
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