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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