How NAFDAC finally nailed the man behind South East’s biggest fake drug empire

For months, he was on the run. The man NAFDAC called the biggest dealer of fake and expired drugs in the South-East – his name is Lazarus Onwukwe and his luck ran out on Thursday morning.

NAFDAC stormed his Osisioma Ngwa home in Aba and picked him up while trying to sneak out in a Sienna, loaded with drugs. It was a joint operation with the Army, Police, and DSS, reports revealed.

This is the same man who, according to reports, slipped through their fingers in February. Back then, they raided his twin duplex and carted away 14 truckloads of fake and expired drugs. The property was sealed. He disappeared.

But NAFDAC never took their eyes off him.

“He thought the government had forgotten him,” said Omoyeni Babatunji, Deputy Director of Investigation and Enforcement. “He was wrong.”

Surveillance paid off. The suspect is now in custody. Samples of the seized drugs will go through lab tests before he faces court.

Confronted with the allegations, Onwukwe admitted owning the buildings and using them as storage for his “foreign drugs,” but denied dealing in expired products.

“I’ve been sick for three months,” he claimed. “I just recovered last week. My wife and in-law have been visiting NAFDAC offices on my behalf.”

He also threw one of his former apprentices under the bus, saying the boy may have been revalidating expired drugs without his knowledge.

His wife, Nwamaka Chidiebere, insisted she knew nothing about her husband’s business. She said she rented the spaces to tenants because she didn’t know where he was.

One tenant, Engineer Lawrence Nwankwo, who moved in June, swore he had no clue the house was once a fake drug hub. Another tenant, Chioma Innocent, echoed the same story: “I didn’t know anything about any seal.”