The Anambra State Police Command has uncovered a marijuana cultivation operation disguised under the activities of a suspected fake madman in Awka.
Police spokesperson, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed in a statement on Thursday that operatives attached to the Operations Department arrested 43-year-old Patrick Ojele on Wednesday, 17 September 2025, during a routine patrol along the Awka–Enugu Expressway near Ngozika Estate.
According to Ikenga, the suspect had pretended to be mentally unstable for over two years, using the guise to secretly tend a concealed cannabis farm. Upon interrogation, Ojele led the police team to the hidden location, where large quantities of substances suspected to be cannabis sativa were recovered.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Ikioye Orutugu, commended the officers for their vigilance and noted that the operation reflects the Command’s renewed strategy to cut off criminal supplies that fuel cultism and violent crimes in the state.
He further directed that the suspect be transferred to the Special Anti-Cultism Squad (SPACS), Enugwu-Ukwu, for discreet investigation aimed at tracing his buyers and dismantling the wider drug distribution network.
The CP reiterated the Command’s commitment to intensifying its crackdown on drug dealers and criminal syndicates, urging residents to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities to the police.
