A man named Lazarus Onwukwe has been arrested in Aba by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). He is believed to be the biggest dealer of fake and expired drugs in the South-East region of Nigeria.

According to Vanguard, NAFDAC worked with the Nigerian Army, Police, and DSS. Together, they stormed Onwukwe’s house in the Umuocheala area of Aba after receiving a tip. There, they found what they described as the largest factory and store for fake and expired drugs in the region.

Earlier in February, NAFDAC raided the same property and discovered a small drug factory inside. They found that expired drugs were being cleaned up, rebranded, and packaged to look new before being sold again.

Pharmacist Omoyeni Babatunji, who works with NAFDAC in the South-East and South-South, explained that Onwukwe was caught while trying to quietly escape his house after sneaking in.

After the February raid, NAFDAC took away 14 trucks filled with fake and expired drugs from the twin two-storey houses, boys’ quarters, and smaller houses on the property. They sealed the buildings, but Onwukwe had been on the run until now.

“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.”

When interviewed, Onwukwe admitted he owns the buildings and uses them as warehouses. However, he insisted that the drugs were imported and not expired, as NAFDAC claimed.

He also said he didn’t know the buildings had been sealed after the February raid. His wife decided to rent the buildings to tenants.

Onwukwe explained that he didn’t show up at NAFDAC’s office because he had been very ill for over three months. He claimed his people had been in touch with the agency on his behalf.

“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 also said he didn’t know one of his former workers, who lived with him even after completing his training, was the one using the house to rebrand expired drugs.

“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

His wife, Mrs. Nwamaka Chidiebere, said she was at home during the February raid. She denied knowing anything about the building being sealed.

“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, who is one of the tenants, said he moved into the house in June 2025. He said he didn’t know it had been sealed or under NAFDAC watch.

“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 wasn’t aware the house she rented was involved in any criminal activity or seal.