Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a 60-year-old resident pastor of the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim located at Agodo-Egbe, Ikotun area of Lagos, while trying to export 174 kilogrammes of hard drugs to South Africa.
The suspect identified as Prophet Michael Raji was nabbed after the drugs were intercepted at the cargo section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, during pre-shipment examination.
The anti-narcotic agency in a statement on Monday said, “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.”
Raji upon his arrest was discovered with three international passports carrying 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.
The seized drugs which were hidden inside large bags of foodstuff were found to contain 91kg of Methamphetamine and 83kg of Ephedrine worth N609 million.
The arrest of Raji by the NDLEA operatives led to a raid of his compound where a Mercedes Benz Jeep was impounded.
Mr Hamza Umar, the NDLEA commander at the Lagos Airport, while reacting to Raji’s arrest described him as a smooth operator.
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.”
Raji however denied been ownership of the drugs, saying they belonged to a friend.
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