A 43-year-old man, identified as Patrick Ojele, has been arrested for allegedly cultivating a concealed marijuana farm in Awka while disguising himself as a mentally unstable person.
The News Chronicle correspondent in Anambra can confirm that the suspect, Ojele, had paraded himself as a lunatic for over two years, while insidiously operating the marijuana farm.
Confirming the suspect’s arrest in a press release issued on Thursday, the Public Relations Officer of the Anambra State Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said the suspect was apprehended on September 17, 2025, by operatives attached to the Operations Department, Awka, during a routine patrol along the Awka–Enugu Expressway near Ngozika Estate.
He revealed that the suspect eventually led the police team to a hidden farmland where large quantities of weeds suspected to be cannabis sativa were discovered and recovered.
Ikenga noted that preliminary findings revealed that the man had been secretly operating the farm for a long period, while using the guise of insanity to deflect suspicion from residents and security agents in the area.
Reacting to the development, the Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Command, CP Ikioye Orutugu, said the arrest was another outcome of the Command’s renewed operational strategy aimed at cutting off criminal supplies, especially hard drugs, which he described as a major fuel for cultism, violence, and other serious crimes in the state.
The CP further directed that the suspect be transferred to the Special Anti-Cultism Squad (SPACS), Enugwu-Ukwu, for discreet investigation.
He stressed that investigators would trace the suspect’s buyers, dismantle the wider distribution network, and ensure that everyone involved in the illegal trade is brought to justice.
“I want to reaffirm the commitment of this Command to keeping the state safe, and we warn that no criminal disguises would shield offenders from the long arm of the law,” Orutugu declared.
