Atlast NAFDAC Nabs Runaway Expired Medicine Dealer In Aba

BY CHUKWUEBUKA OHIZU / UMUAHIA

The National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday arrested Mr Lazarus Onwunkwe, suspected to be the major dealer of expired drugs in the whole of South-East Nigeria, in Aba, Abia State.

Speaking to newsmen at the suspect’s residence, in Umuocheala, Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area of Abia State, the 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 sneak out from the house.

Daily News Nigeria reports that in February 2025, a joint team of the NAFDAC, the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police, and the Department of State Services (DSS), stormed Mr. Onwukwe’s residence, and made a discovery that was described then as the biggest fake and expired drug depot in South-East Nigeria.

Babatunji said that after the operation in February, NAFDAC evacuated 14 trucks by 10-ton of expired drugs at Onwukwe’s house and sealed the building, while the suspect became at large.

“Our market surveillance and control, which is a regulatory function as assigned in the global benchmarking tool, was what we were sustaining throughout the operation. So, after the work back then in February, we kept surveillance on this place.

“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 he must be brought.

“However, he thought that the government had forgotten about him. We moved round the whole house back then, and everywhere was full of expired drugs, which we took to our lab to confirm.”

Babatunji said that suddenly on Thursday, they saw tenants had occupied the entire building that was once full of drugs, but further confirmed that there are no more presence of drugs in the building.

“However, this morning, our continuous surveillance team, 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.

“So, we’re here to tell the world that we’ve 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, and 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’re a scientific organisation that deals with scientific evaluations. We’ll sample, and he’ll see his products.”

Onwukwe confirmed that he is the owner of the house and uses the house to park some of the drugs he deals, which he insisted were foreign drugs and not expired drugs, as said by NAFDAC.

He equally denied having knowledge that his building was sealed after the 11th February raid by NAFDAC, which led to the evacuation of drugs in his building, hence the decision by his wife to rent the flats and bungalows out to tenants.

Speaking on why he did not show up while he was being looked for, Onwukwe said, “I have been sick for over three months now. I’ve 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’ve been very sick. I just recovered one week ago; I really wanted to go to them, but I was sick.”

Onwukwe, 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 his arrest by the police, was using his house to revalidate expired drugs.

Mrs. Nwamaka Chidiebere, wife of the suspect, confirmed that she was at home when the joint team came to the house back in February 2025 and said she was not aware that the building was sealed.

“I was the one that rented the apartment to the tenants because I’ve 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.”

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.”

Engineer Lawrence Nwankwo, one of the tenants said that he moved into the building in June 2025 and was never aware that the building was sealed and 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, occupying the bungalow part of Onwukwe’s houses, Mrs. Chioma Innocent, also said she was never aware that the building she paid for was under any kind of seal.

“I parked in this place this July 2025 from Port Harcourt. I paid our landlord’s wife, and I don’t know anything going on here. My husband is not in the country and instructed us to relocate to Abia State, and that’s how we came here.

“It was my mother-in-law that found this house for me, and I paid. I was not told anything. I have been seeing the landlord here since I moved in.”

Editor

Jude Ossai (JP) a veteran journalist is a National Diploma holder in Mass Communication from Ogwashi-Uku Polytechnic Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State. He also studied at Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) Enugu and Imo State University, Owerri for his first and second degrees in Mass Communication, respectively. He writes extensively on politics, crime, corruption, climate change, healthcare, human rights, social justice, among others.