Cocaine trafficking boss on the run since 2019 arrested in Nigeria in Castel Volturno

The long escape of Rowana Isah Ebisan, a 64-year-old Nigerian man sentenced to 22 years in prison for conspiracy to traffic cocaine and numerous drug dealing charges, has ended in Nigeria. Wanted since 2019, the man was arrested as part of the Wanted 2025 project thanks to an investigation conducted by the Caserta Flying Squad, the Central Operations Service of the State Police, and the International Police Cooperation Service, coordinated by the Attorney General's Office of the Court of Appeal of Naples, with the crucial support of Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

According to investigators' reconstruction, Ebisan was the leader and promoter of a widespread criminal organization characterized by strong ethnic and cultural ties among its members. The group allegedly managed the importation of large quantities of cocaine from abroad through so-called "ovulator" couriers, then transporting the drugs to the drug dealing centers of Castel Volturno.

The organization's base of operations, investigators explain, was set up inside a call center managed by the 64-year-old himself. Arrested during the investigation, the man was subsequently granted a non-custodial order during the first-instance trial, but managed to disappear in 2019 before his final sentence was carried out. He had been untraceable since then, still serving a remaining sentence of 21 years, 11 months, and 16 days.

The search, entrusted by the Naples Prosecutor's Office to the Caserta Flying Squad, also focused on the fugitive's network of family members and acquaintances. In-depth investigations led to his initial location in southeastern Nigeria and subsequently narrowed the investigation to the city of Sapele, where he was arrested.