A serious drug cartel behind the manufacturing and distribution of lethal psychoactive substance, methamphetamine, popularly referred to as ‘Mkpuru Mmiri’ has been taken down by operatives of the Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company (NDLEA), following the arrest of the chief of the syndicate, 42-year-old Joachin Chikaodi Mbonu, and his affiliate in his mansion tucked in his Umuomi village, Uzogba-Ezenomi autonomous neighborhood, Ikeduru native authorities space of Imo State.
The cartel, with operational bases in Imo and Rivers States, grew to become a goal of the anti-narcotics Company following intelligence indicating it was accountable for the distribution of considerable amount of methamphetamine in South-East, South-South and different components of the nation.
An announcement signed by the Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Femi Babafemi, a duplicate of which was despatched to LEADERSHIP on Tuesday, mentioned after weeks of surveillance, officers of a particular operations unit of the Company on Friday, July 5, 2024, tracked and traced the drug lord to his village mansion in Imo State the place he was caught with a member of his cartel, Kenneth Chibuike Ofoegbu, 34, with completely different portions of methamphetamine, its precursor chemical compounds, a pump motion gun and cartridges recovered.
Displays recovered from the home embrace: 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 digital weighing scales and a pump motion gun with 4 cartridges.
“The operatives moved swiftly to a different of Mbonu’s hideout situated at 11 Redemption Avenue, Port Harcourt, Rivers State the place they recovered further reveals: 750 grams of processed sodium bicarbonate; 170 grams of plain sodium bicarbonate and 75 grams of meth.
“One other raid within the dwelling of one in all Mbonu’s associates, Odoemenam Pedro Chinedu, presently at giant, at Njaba LGA, Imo State, led to the restoration of one other pump motion gun with 25 cartridges, amongst different gadgets. Whereas the kingpin cools his heels in custody, two of his mansions in Imo State have been marked for attainable forfeiture to the federal authorities,” Babafemi said.
He added that Mbonu had escaped from South Africa, the place he lived for years and mastered the artwork of cooking methamphetamine after he got here underneath investigation for drug dealings.
“Upon his return to Nigeria, he continued the prison commerce by establishing clandestine laboratories in distant villages to defend his nefarious actions,” the NDLEA spokesman identified.
Reacting to the profitable taking down of the meth syndicate, chairman/chief government of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), counseled the officers and males concerned within the multi-pronged operation, whereas he said that the style through which the interdiction was carried out ought to ship a powerful sign to different cartels that there’s no hiding place for them in any a part of the nation.
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