Joachin Chikaodi Mbodu
Source: Africa Publicity
A 42-year-old wanted drug baron named Joachin Chikaodi Mbodu, has been arrested by police officers in a village mansion in Nigeria.
The suspect is a member of
a major drug cartel behind the production and distribution of deadly psychoactive substance, methamphetamine, popularly called ‘mkpuru mmiri’.
He was arrested along with other members of the cartel.
Operatives of Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) carried out the arrests of Joachin Chikaodi Mbonu and his associate in his mansion tucked in his Umuomi village in the Uzogba-Ezenomi autonomous community in Ikeduru local government area of Imo State.
A statement from the spokesperson of the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, indicated that the cartel with operational bases in Imo and Rivers state became a target of the Agency following intelligence indicating it is responsible for the distribution of substantial quantities of methamphetamine in South East, South-South and other parts of the country.
According to the statement,
‘’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”
The statement added that 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.
The statement noted that the operatives moved swiftly to another of Mbonu’s hideouts located at 11 Redemption Avenue, Port Harcourt, Rivers state where they recovered additional exhibits: 750 grams of processed sodium bicarbonate; 170 grams of plain sodium bicarbonate and 75 grams of meth.
Another raid in the home of one of Mbonu’s associates, Odoemenam Pedro Chinedu, currently at large, at Njaba LGA, Imo state, led to the recovery of another pump action gun with 25 cartridges, among other items. While the kingpin cools his heels in custody, two of his mansions in Imo state have been marked for possible forfeiture to the federal government.
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