Operatives of the 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.
Another suspect, Onwuegbusi 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 had tried 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.
He also could not give any reason for his leaving Entebbe, Uganda, en-route Addis Ababa, to Enugu.
