Operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, AIIA, Enugu, have arrested a Lagos pastor over drug trafficking.
The
suspect, Daniel Lanre Akintola, 43, was caught with 1.978kg of heroin concealed
in the false bottom of his luggage.
This is coming just a few weeks after a Lagos-based pastor was arrested for smuggling narcotics to South Africa at the Lagos Airport.
Vanguard
gathered that another suspect, Onwueg-busi Tochukwu Victor, 48, was also
arrested with 51.5kg of ephedrine found inside his luggage.
NDLEA commander at the Enugu Airport, Mr. Nsikak-Abasi Udoh, disclosed that the 43-year-old pastor wanted to abandon his luggage at the arrival hall for fear of arrest.
He
said: “Mr. Daniel Lanre Akintola unlawfully possessed 1.978kg of heroin, while
returning from Entebbe, a major town in Central Uganda.
“He
wanted to abandon the luggage, but we detected his intention. The drug was
carefully concealed in a false bottom of his luggage.
“The
second suspect is a businessman who had parcels of ephedrine weighing 51.5kg,
which he wanted to smuggle to Ma-puto, Mozambique.
They
are being investigated.”
Akintola,
who claimed ownership of the bag containing heroin, said he was returning from
a pastor’s conference.
He
said: “I am a pastor with one of the pentecostal churches, at Ipaja, Lagos. I
attended a minister’s conference in Uganda.
“This
bag, where heroin was found, is my bag but I am a pastor and not a drug
trafficker.”
The
suspect, who hails from Oyo State but lives in Lagos, could not produce
evidence that he actually attended a minister’s conference in Uganda.
Besides,
he also did not give any reason for leaving Entebbe, Uganda, en-route Addis
Ababa, to Enugu.
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