The National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, says it has has finally arrested one Lazarus Onwukwe, a suspected major dealer on expired drugs.
According to the agency, the arrest is coming five months after a joint team comprising NAFDAC, Army, police and the Department of State Services, DSS)l, stormed his house at Umuocheala, a suburb in Aba.
During the February 11 operation, NAFDAC said it discovered a mini drug factory within the buildings, where expired products were being repackaged, revalidated and rebranded and pushed back into the markets for public consumption.
The agency described the mini factory as the largest in the entire South-East.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, 24th July, 2025, about the eventual arrest of the suspect, the Deputy Director of NAFDAC in charge of Investigation and Enforcement in South-East and South-South, Omoyeni Babatunji said Onwukwe, who has been at large, was arrested in his residence at Umuocheala, Osisioma Ngwa LGA of Abia State.
Babatunji said the suspect was apprehended on Thursday while trying to leave his house in his Sienna vehicle loaded drugs, after initially sneaking- in.
He disclosed that the drugs recovered from the suspect would be taken to the laboratory for tests and would also be provided in court.
The NAFDAC director said the building which was sealed by his agency in February was surprisingly rented to some new tenants, but confirmed that no drugs were found again inside the building on Thursday.
However, Lazarus Onwukwe, who confirmed to journalists that he owns the buildings, said he used them as warehouses for the drugs he deals on, which he insisted were genuine foreign drugs and not expired drugs, as alleged by NAFDAC.
Onwukwe equally denied knowing that his buildings were sealed after the 11th February raid by NAFDAC, hence the decision by his wife to rent the spaces to tenants.
He said he was sick for over three months and did not evade NAFDAC arrest.
