By Correspondent.
A 36-year-old Nigerian who is based in Italy, Nwakanma Michael Uche, has excreted 95 Pellets of Heroin at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja and now under arrest by the operatives of National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Femi Babafemi, the spokesman of the NDLEA,said on Sunday in Abuja that the suspect ingested the illicit drugs, adding that when kept under observation by the operatives, he excreted the heroin.
Uche,he added, hails from Arodizuogu Village, Ideato Local Government Area of Imo State, pointing out that he was arrested while making efforts to board Air France Airline enroute Abuja-Paris-Milan, Italy on May 15,2022.
According to the agency’s image maker,Uche claimed he came to see his parents in Nigeria, after 12 years in Italy as well as to complete his father’s traditional marriage rites.
Babafemi qouted the suspect as revealing that he(Uche) would have been paid N1.5m,if he successful deliver the drugs in Milan.
The NDLEA spokesman also disclosed that a wanted drug kingpin linked to 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), had been arrested in Ondo State.
He said Okamaru’s arrest was the outcome of five months of manhunt launched by the operatives of t6 agency for his arrest.
Babafemi also disclosed that two suspects: Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nmborgwu,had been arrested in connection to the consignment of illicit drugs last December, adding they confessed that the concrete mixer truck,with Lagos registration number SMK 890 XB, was loaded with the illicit drug in Ogbese, Ondo State.
Babafemi said that the suspects also revealed that they travelled for two months on the road before arriving in Adamawa, where the long arm of NDLEA operatives caught up with them.
According to Babafemi,investigations reveal that Okamaru is one of the leaders of a cannabis cultivation cartel that operates in the Ondo-Ekiti axis.
He said the suspect shuttled between Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Delta states, from where he coordinated supplies of illicit consignments to Northern parts of the country and Lagos State.
Babafemi,who described Okamaru as “the drug lord “,said the suspect had been identified as a member of an international drug trafficking ring who shuttles between Nigeria and South Africa, where his family reside.
Okamaru, he further explained, had 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 were usually distributed year-round.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
