The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a drug baron declared wanted in December 2021, Henry Chukwuneku Okamaru, popularly known as Lawrence Ik Okamaru.
The owner of the 2000.6kg cannabis sativa seized by the agency in a concrete mixer truck in Adamawa State on December 2, 2021, was arrested in Ondo State.
Confirming Okamaru's arrest on Sunday, May 29, the Director of Media & Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement made available to SaharaReporters said that following the confession of the other two suspects, Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nmborgwu, who were arrested last year, it was revealed that the drug was loaded in Ogbese, Ondo from a cannabis cultivation cartel operated by Okamaru.
"Investigation reveals that Okamaru is one of the leaders of a cannabis cultivation cartel that operates in the Ondo-Ekiti axis, while he shuttles between Odun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Delta states from where he coordinates supplies of illicit consignments to Northern parts of the country and Lagos State," Babafemi said.
Okamaru, according to the NDLEA spokesperson, has also been identified as a member of an international drug trafficking ring which operates between Nigeria and South Africa.
In a similar development, the agency also arrested a 36-year-old Italy-based Nigerian, Nwakanma Michael Uche, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Nwakanma, according to Babafemi, excreted 95 pellets of Heroin.
He was arrested while trying to board Air France Airline en route to Abuja-Paris-Milan, Italy on Sunday, May 15 and kept in detention, during which he excreted the drugs.
"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 N1.5 million after successful delivery of the drugs in Milan," the spokesperson said.