Joachin Mbonu, a notorious drug baron on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s (NDLEA) wanted list, was arrested in his village mansion in Imo State on July 5. The arrest, which included one of his associates, was part of an operation targeting a major drug cartel responsible for the production and distribution of methamphetamine, also known as ‘mkpuru mmiri’.
According to a statement released by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi on Tuesday, Mbonu’s cartel, operating out of Imo and Rivers States, has been distributing substantial quantities of methamphetamine across the South East, South South, and other regions in Nigeria. Babafemi detailed that during the operation, NDLEA operatives recovered 419.99 grams of methamphetamine, 750 grams of iodine, a pump-action gun with four cartridges, among other items.
The operation involved weeks of surveillance by a special unit of the NDLEA, which ultimately tracked Mbonu to his mansion in Umuomi village, Ikeduru local government area of Imo State. Alongside Mbonu, 34-year-old Kenneth Chibuike Ofoegbu was also apprehended. Additional raids at residences linked to Mbonu in Rivers and Imo States led to further seizures, including 750 grams of processed sodium bicarbonate, 170 grams of plain sodium bicarbonate, and 75 grams of methamphetamine.
In one of these raids at Njaba LGA, Imo State, the home of Mbonu’s associate, Odoemenam Pedro Chinedu, who is currently at large, another pump-action gun with 25 cartridges was recovered. Babafemi noted that Mbonu, having fled South Africa where he was under investigation for drug dealings, continued his illegal activities in Nigeria by establishing clandestine laboratories in remote villages.
As Mbonu remains in custody, two of his mansions in Imo State have been marked for possible forfeiture to the federal government.