According to Vanguard, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officials have apprehended the resident pastor of an Ikotun parish of the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim over unlawful attempt to export of 174 kilos of hard narcotic drugs to South Africa, the agency said on Monday.
The 60 year old resident pastor, Prophet Micheal Raji is believed to be a member of a drug trafficking syndicate, and had concealed the hard drugs in different foodstuffs tied in polythene bags. According to the report, Prophet Michael Raji was arrested with the drug at the cargo section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) during pre-shipment examination.
A statement by NDLEA reports that he was found with three different international passports bearing his name and picture:
“Preliminary investigation has indicated that the 60 year old suspect Michael Raji is a top member of a drug syndicate operating in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. The pastor had three international passports bearing his photographs. One of the passports bears the name Michael Raji while the other two bear the name Kadigun Fatah Ola. It was equally discovered that the church premises where he ministers also serves as a warehouse for narcotics,” NDLEA said. Speaking on his arrest, the NDLEA commander at the Lagos Airport, Mr. Hamza Umar said “I can tell you that this suspect is a smooth operator but we have uncovered his bag of tricks. The drugs were brought to the airport for export to South Africa where it was detected. Investigation eventually traced the movement of the drugs to his church premises where he was arrested,” Hamza stated.
