A 36-year-old Nigerian based in Italy, Nwakama Michael Uche, has been arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja for ingesting pellets of heroin.
Nwakama, an indigene of 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,May 15, 2022.
He was thereafter kept under observation during which he excreted 95 pellets of the illicit drug.
Speaking on the arrest in a statement on Sunday, May 29, the Agency’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi said that Nwakama claimed to have come to see his parents in Nigeria after 12 years in Italy and also 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.
Meanwhile, a wanted drug kingpin behind the 2000.6kg Cannabis Sativa seized in a concrete mixer truck in Adamawa State on December 2, 2021, Henry Chukwuneku Okamaru (a.k.a. Lawrence Ik Okamaru) was nabbed in Ondo State after five months of manhunt by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Two suspects – Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nmborgwu – were picked up in connection with the consignment last December, and hadhad 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 in Adamawa where they were eventually arrested by NDLEA operatives.
Investigations had revealed Okamaru as one of the leaders of a cannabis cultivation cartel operating in the Ondo-Ekiti axis, while he was shuttling within Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Delta states, from where he was coordinating 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 settled 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,” Babafemi said.
Also, across five states of Edo, Kaduna, Kogi, Akwa Ibom and Oyo, NDLEA operatives intensified their offensive action against drug cartels.
In Edo, a pharmacy along Sapele Road, Benin, was raided on Friday, May 27, following intelligence and prolonged surveillance.
The owner of the store, Thaddeus Uliagbafusi, 58, was arrested while a total of 130,670 tablets of different controlled drugs, 1,396 ampoules of pentazocine injection and 743 bottles of codeine were recovered from a secret location where the drugs were usually repackaged.
This came after a similar raid of a drug joint operated by Mrs. Christianah Gabriel, 53, at Uromi, Esan North East Local Government Area, Edo State, leading to her arrest with 25kg cannabis.
While 15,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection were seized by operatives in Kaduna along Abuja-Kaduna expressway, 12,500 tablets of Diazepam were intercepted along Okene-Abuja highway on Thursday, May 26.
Thenewsbearer learnt that the drug exhibits were found inside a truck conveying motor spare parts from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Kaduna.
In Akwa Ibom, a female drug dealer, Irene Emmanuel Bassey was arrested on Saturday, May 28, during a search of her house at Ikpa town, Esit Eket LGA, resulting in the recovery of 30.5kg cannabis, while one Muideen Rasaki was nabbed with 90.8kg cannabis at Elere, Boluwaji area of Ibadan South-East Local Government Area.
Commending the officers and men of the Directorate of Intelligence (NAIA), as well as Edo, Kaduna, Kogi, Akwa Ibom and Oyo state commands of the Agency for the series of arrests and seizures in the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) charged them and their compatriots across the country not to relent in their offensive action against drug cartels and their kingpins.
