NDLEA Arrests Wanted Drug Baron In Ondo

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested another wanted drug lord, who is suspected to be behind the 2000.6kg Cannabis Sativa seized in a concrete mixer truck in Adamawa State on 2nd December 2021.

The suspect, Henry Chukwuneku Okamaru (a.k.a. Lawrence Ik Okamaru) was arrested in Ondo State after five months of manhunt.

NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said two suspects: Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nmborgwu were arrested in connection to the consignment last December and they had 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.

He also said “investigations reveal that Okamaru is one of the leaders of a cannabis cultivation cartel that operates in the Ondo-Ekiti axis, while he shuttles between Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Delta State from where he coordinates supplies of illicit consignments to Northern parts of the country and Lagos State.

“The drug lord has also been identified as a member of an international drug trafficking ring, while he shuttles between Nigeria and South Africa where he settles his family. He 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.”

Meanwhile, a 36-year-old Nigerian based in Italy, Nwakanma Michael Uche has been arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja for ingesting pellets of heroin.

Nwakanma who hails from, Arodizuogu village, Ideato local government area of Imo State was nabbed while trying to board Air France Airline enroute Abuja-Paris-Milan, Italy on Sunday 15 May 2022.

He was thereafter kept under observation during which he excreted 95 pellets of the illicit drug.

The NDLEA said he claimed he came to see his parents in Nigeria after 12 years in Italy and to complete his father’s traditional marriage rites. He added that he was to be paid N1.5million after a successful delivery of the drugs in Milan.

Also, across five states of Edo, Kaduna, Kogi, Akwa Ibom and Oyo, NDLEA operatives intensified their offensive action against drug cartels.