How NDLEA Operatives Nabbed Drug Lord, Chikaodi Mbonu, In A Village Mansion In Imo

The siege at Mbonu’s village mansion

For NDLEA operatives, it was a big haul as a major drug cartel behind the production and distribution of the deadly psychoactive substance, methamphetamine, popularly known as ‘mkpuru Miri’ was smashed.
Chikaodi Mbonu, the syndicate’s 42-year-old leader, was arrested with an associate at his mansion in Umuomi village, Uzogba-Ezenomi autonomous community, Ikeduru local government area, Imo State.
The anti-narcotics agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Tuesday that the cartel, which has operational bases in Imo and Rivers states, became a target of the NDLEA after intelligence revealed that it is responsible for the distribution of significant quantities of methamphetamine in the South East, South-South, and other parts of the country.
Babafemi stated that after weeks of surveillance, officers from the agency’s special operations unit tracked and traced the drug lord to his village mansion in Imo state, where he was apprehended with a member of his cartel, Chibuike Ofoegbu, 34, along with various quantities of methamphetamine, precursor chemicals, a pump action gun, and cartridges.
Babafemi, while disclosing the exhibits recovered from the house to include: 419.99 grammes of methamphetamine; 750 grammes of iodine, a precursor chemical for meth; 500 grammes of sodium bicarbonate, a precursor chemical for meth; two electronic weighing scales and a pump action gun with four cartridges, noted that the operatives moved quickly to another of Mbonu’s hideout located at 11 Redemption Avenue, Port Harcourt, Rivers state, where they recovered additional exhibit 750 grammes of processed sodium bicarbonate; 170 grammes of plain sodium bicarbonate, and 75 grammes of meth.
According to the spokesman, another raid on the home of one of Mbonu’s associates, Odoemenam Chinedu, who is still at large, in the Njaba local government area of Imo state resulted in the recovery of another pump action gun with 25 cartridges, among other items.
He stated, “While the kingpin cools his heels in custody, two of his Imo state mansions have been marked for possible forfeiture to the federal government.”
Babafemi stated that Mbonu fled South Africa, where he lived for years and mastered the art of cooking methamphetamine after being investigated for drug dealings, and that when he returned to Nigeria, he continued the criminal trade by establishing clandestine laboratories in remote villages to conceal his nefarious activities.
Meanwhile, in response to the successful takedown of the meth syndicate, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) praised the officers and men involved in the multi-pronged operation, stating that how the interdiction was carried out should send a strong message to other cartels that there is no hiding place for them anywhere in the country.