NDLEA nabs wanted drug baron in Imo state

Joachin Mbonu, a drug baron who was listed as wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, has been taken into custody. On July 5, Mbonu was taken into custody by NDLEA agents at his Imo state village estate. 

The agency's spokeswoman, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Tuesday that Mbonu and his associate had been taken into custody. According to him, Mbonu is a member of a narcotics organisation that produces methamphetamine.

Babafemi said, “ A major drug cartel behind the production and distribution of deadly psychoactive substance, methamphetamine, popularly called ‘mkpuru mmiri’ has been taken down by operatives of the NDLEA following the arrest of the leader of the syndicate, 42-year-old Joachin Chikaodi Mbonu and his associate in his mansion tucked in his Umuomi village, Uzogba-Ezenomi autonomous community, Ikeduru local government area of Imo State.”

The agency began to target the cartel, which has strongholds in Imo and Rivers state, after receiving intelligence linking it to the distribution of significant amounts of methamphetamine in the South East, South South, and other regions of the nation. 

Babafemi stated that among other things, the operation yielded the recovery of 750 grammes of iodine, 419.99 grammes of methamphetamine, and a pump action rifle with four rounds.

He said, “After weeks of surveillance, officers of a special operations unit of the Agency on Friday 5th July 2024, tracked and traced the drug lord to his village mansion in Imo state where he was caught with a member of his cartel, Kenneth Chibuike Ofoegbu, 34, with different quantities of methamphetamine, its precursor chemicals, a pump action gun and cartridges recovered.

“Exhibits recovered from the house include 419.99 grams of methamphetamine; 750 grams of iodine, a precursor chemical for meth; 500 grams of sodium bicarbonate, a precursor chemical for meth; two electronic weighing scales and a pump action gun with four cartridges.”

Babafemi continued by saying that the agents also searched the homes of Mbonu's acquaintances in the states of Rivers and Imo, finding a number of illegal substances. 

The agents rushed quickly to 11 Redemption Avenue, Port Harcourt, Rivers state, another of Mbonu's hiding places. 

There, they found further evidence, including 750 grammes of processed sodium bicarbonate, 170 grammes of ordinary sodium bicarbonate, and 75 grammes of meth.

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