The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has arrested a suspected importer of fake drugs in Aba, Lazarus Onwukwe, alleged to be the largest dealer of expired drugs in the South-East zone.
Vanguard reports that a joint team of the NAFDAC, the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police, and the Department of State Services, DSS, acting on a tip off, stormed Onwukwe’s residence in Umuocheala in Osisioma Ngwa area of Aba and busted what the agency described as the biggest fake and expired drug factory and depot in South-East Nigeria.
Sources say that during a raid in February, NAFDAC discovered a mini drug factory, within the buildings where expired products are repackaged, revalidated and rebranded and circulated into the markets.
In an interview with Vanguard at the residence of the suspected drug addict, Deputy Director, in charge of Investigation and Enforcement, NAFDAC in South-East and South-South, Pharmacist Omoyeni Babatunji, said he was apprehended while trying to leave the house after sneaking in.
Babatunji disclosed that after the operation in February, NAFDAC evacuated 14 trucks carrying tons of fake and expired drugs at Onwukwe’s twin two-storey duplex with boys’ quarters and other bungalows .
The building was sealed while the suspect has been at large since February.
“Those who were here in February can recall that even the gate got broken, and we had to fix it and put a government seal on this place. The two vehicles, a Highlander and a Camry, that we saw here back then, are still at the Area Command Headquarters here in Aba.
“Because of the surveillance that we put in place on this building back then, we never expected that this man would even make an attempt to come because he has been sending a lot of people to our different offices, but we kept insisting that he must be brought.
However, he thought that the government had forgotten about him, but as you can see, that’s not the case at all.
“We moved around the whole house back then, and everywhere was full of expired drugs, which we took to our lab to confirm. Suddenly, today, we are seeing everywhere occupied by tenants. We have also confirmed that we don’t have any drugs in the building again.
However, this morning (Thursday morning), our continuous surveillance team which was formed in synergy with other sister agents, yielded a result, as the suspect was apprehended while going out from this building with a Siena vehicle loaded with drugs.”
Speaking further, he said
“So, we are here to tell the world that we have seen him; he has been apprehended now, and the process of taking the samples of those drugs for laboratory evaluation against him will take place.
From there, everything scientific to prove what we saw will be proven in court because we’re a scientific organisation.
Recall that we picked samples of those products, and they were kept safely in our office and now we’re taking those samples, and we’ll give him one sample, send another one to the lab, and then keep one as an exhibit for us in case he wants to contest the laboratory result.
We are a scientific organisation that deals with scientific evaluations. We will sample, and he’ll see his products.”
In an interview, the suspect confirmed that he owns the buildings, makes use of them as warehouses for the drugs he deals on, which he insisted were foreign drugs and not expired drugs contrary to NAFDAC’s claims.
Onwukwe also denied having knowledge that his buildings were sealed after the 11th February raid by NAFDAC, hence the decision by his wife to rent the spaces to tenants.
Speaking on why he did not submit himself to the authorities, Onwukwe said, “I have been sick for over three months now. I have been very sick, but my people have been going to their office.
“My wife and my in-law have been going to the Area Command as well as NAFDAC’s office in Enugu and Asaba. I have been very sick. I just recovered one week ago; I really wanted to go to them, but I was sick.”
He, however, said that he never knew that one of his boys, whom he settled after his apprenticeship and who was still staying with him prior to the raid and subsequently, his arrest by the police, was using his house to revalidate expired drugs.
Wife of the suspect,Mrs. Nwamaka Chidiebere confirmed that she was at home when the joint team raided their residence in February 2025 and denied that the building was sealed.
“I was the one that rented the apartment to the tenants because I have been looking for my husband for some months, and I didn’t see him. So, I had no option other than to rent the vacant spaces out to tenants.”he said
When asked if she was aware that fake and expired drugs were discovered in the buildings, she said
“I am aware that the security people came here because I was here, but I am not into the business with him because he said he doesn’t want me in his business. I only know that he deals in foreign drugs, US drugs to be precise.
I am a local government worker, so I don’t know anything about my husband’s business. I wrote a statement on this matter with the police, and I stand by what I wrote.”
One of the tenants, Engineer Lawrence Nwankwo, stated that he moved into the building in June 2025 and was unaware that the building had been sealed and was under the surveillance of NAFDAC.
“I was not aware of anything. I was not residing around this area. I was only looking for a house, and I was told that there’s a vacancy in this place. I made all payments to the landlady of this place.”
Another tenant, Chioma Innocent, also said she was never aware that the building she paid for was under any kind of seal.”
