A pastor of a white garment church, Prophet Michael Raji has been caught by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, in the Murtala Muhammed International Airport trying to smuggle drugs out of the country.
Raji who pastors a church in the Ikotun area of Lagos state was arrested around 12pm on Monday, February 16, 2015 while he was trying to smuggle 174 kilogrammes of narcotic drugs to South Africa.
Three international passports bearing different names were also recovered from the pastor.
The agency also recovered bags containing 91kg of Methamphetamine and 83kg of Ephedrine with an estimated street value of N609 million aid in his church.
Punch reported that a preliminary investigation indicated that the suspect was a member of a wanted drug syndicate operating in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
During questioning, the pastor blamed the devil for luring him into such an embarrassing crime.
He said, “I received the drugs from my friend and I kept them in the church since October 2014. This is a great temptation for me and I pray to God to overcome it.”
The NDLEA Commander at the airport, Mr. Hamza Umar, described the suspect as a “smooth operator.”
Umar said, “The drugs were brought to the airport for export to South Africa. Investigation eventually traced the movement of the drugs to his church premises where he was arrested.
“He had three international passports bearing his photographs with the names Michael Raji and Kadigun Ola.
“It was equally discovered that the church premises, where he ministers, also serves as a warehouse for narcotics.
“The seized drugs, concealed inside large bags of foodstuffs, were found to contain 91kg of Methamphetamine and 83kg of Ephedrine with an estimated street value of N609m.
“We also recovered a Mercedes Benz jeep during the operation.”
The NDLEA boss, Ahmadu Giade, assured that the pastor and his cohorts would be brought to book while urging the general public to always report suspicious movement on drug trafficking to enable them work better.
