NDLEA Arrests Pastor With 1.978kg Of Heroin

LAGOS—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.