A wanted drug kingpin behind the 2000.6kg Cannabis Sativa seized in a concrete mixer truck in Adamawa State in December 2021, Henry Chukwuneku Okamaru has been arrested in Ondo state after five months of manhunt by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
Two other suspects, Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nmborgwu were also arrested in connection to the consignment last December.
Spokesperson for NDLEA, Femi Babafemi said the suspects 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.
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 suspected drug lord, also knowm as Lawrence Ik Okamaru, 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.
In the same vein, 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 15th May 2022.He was thereafter kept under observation during which he excreted 95 pellets of the illicit drug.
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 was to be paid 1.5million naira after a successful delivery of the drugs in Milan.
Meanwhile, tons of Tramadol, codeine and cannabis were also seized by NDLEA across Edo, Kaduna and Akwa-Ibom States.
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