A 36-year-old Nigerian, based in Italy, Nwakanma Uche, has excreted 95 pellets of heroin after he was arrested by operatives of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). Uche was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, after it was discovered that he had ingested the pellets.
The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, , Mr Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement yesterday in Abuja, said Uche, who hailed from Arodizuogu Village, Ideato Local Government Area of Imo State, was nabbed while trying to board an Air France plane on his way to Paris, France, and Milan, Italy, on May 15, 2022.
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“He was thereafter kept under observation, during which he excreted the 95 pellets of the illicit drug. He claimed he came to see his parents in Nigeria after 12 years in Italy. He added that he was to be paid N1.5 million after a successful delivery of the drugs in Milan,” he said
Meanwhile, the agency has arrested a wanted drug kingpin behind the 2000.6kg Cannabis Sativa seized in a concrete mixer truck, in Adamawa State, on December 2, 2021.
According to Babafemi, the suspect, Henry Okamaru (a.k.a. Lawrence Ik Okamaru), was arrested in Ondo State after five months of manhunt by operatives of the NDLEA, adding that two suspects: Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nmborgwu, were arrested in connection with the consignment in December 2021.
Babafemi also said they had confessed that the concrete mixer truck, with a Lagos registration number, SMK 890 XB, was loaded with the illicit drug in Ogbese, Ondo State.
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He added that they travelled for two months on the road before arriving in Adamawa where they were eventually arrested by NDLEA operatives.
According to him, investigations revealed that Okamaru was one of the leaders of a cannabis cultivation cartel that operates in the Ondo-Ekiti axis.
“He shuttles through Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Delta states, 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 his family is settled.
“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,” he said.
