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A 45-year-old Pastor and his 35-year-old wife were arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) while attempting to traffic blocks of narcotics known as skunk on Thursday.
NDLEA Spokesperson, in a statement released on Sunday, identified the suspects as Afolabi Hodonu, the pastor of Celestial Church of Christ, Agonvi Sea Beach, Sakpo area of Seme border, Badagry in Lagos State, and his wife, Success Hodonu.
The couple was apprehended at the Gbaji checkpoint. NDLEA operatives recovered blocks of skunk weighing 11kg concealed in the hidden parts of their Honda Pilot SUV.
Babafemi added that a fake security agent, Sunday Samuel, was arrested at the same checkpoint on March 30, 2026, while conveying 24.5kg of skunk from the Seme border to Lagos.
NDLEA operatives also dismantled a drug trafficking syndicate in high-stakes intelligence-led operations that lasted three weeks, during which cocaine consignments concealed in tins of palm kernel extract were heading to the United Kingdom (UK).
Babafemi disclosed that the operation began when NDLEA officers of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Strategic Command, Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted 3.10 kilograms of cocaine at the export shed of the airport on March 11. The cocaine was concealed inside tins of palm kernel extract intended for shipment to the UK.
“Two suspects handling the shipment, Idris Olayiwola Amoo and Akinlami Akinsoji Adedoyin, were promptly arrested. To unravel the sender and the arrowhead of the drug syndicate, a well-coordinated sting operation was carried out on Thursday, April 2, 2026, leading to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Ezemuwo Joel, who operates under a fake identity as Ajayi,” said Babafemi.
“His arrest provided the link to the syndicate’s head, 52-year-old King Arinze who was flushed out of a hideout in the Isolo area of Lagos. He was thereafter taken to his warehouse at 11, Ola Ifa Street, Bucknor, Isolo where NDLEA operatives recovered 886 tins of palm kernel extract prepared for drug concealment; industrial tools including a sealing machine, tin openers; paint sprays; 52 grams of cannabis sativa and a pack of hand gloves. Arinze has since confessed to personally draining the oil from the tins to conceal the cocaine.”
The agency also apprehended suspects in possession of illicit substances in multiple operations across Adamawa, Osun, Edo, Borno and Oyo states.
In one of those operations, a 28-year-old female drug supplier to bandit groups operating between the North East and Chad, Aisha Adamu, was arrested along Gamboru Ngala road in possession of 4.3 kilograms of Colorado, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis.
