By IBIRONKE ARIYO

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 Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Babafemi said that 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 Sunday, May 15, 2022.

“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 N 1.5 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.

Babafemi said that 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.

He said that two suspects: Matthew Donuwe and Friday Nmborgwu, were arrested in connection with the consignment, in December, 2021.

Babafemi also said that 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.

He added that they traveled for two months on the road before arriving Adamawa where they were eventually arrested by NDLEA operatives.

According to him, investigations revealed that Okamaru is 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. (NAN)

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