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.
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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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