NDLEA nabs wanted drug dealer in Lagos church

A major drug dealer wanted for attempting to export 69.65kilogrammes of cocaine, heroin and cannabis to the United Kingdom through the NAHCO export shed of the Muritala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, has been arrested in a church at Ojodu, Ikeja area of Lagos State.

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had traced the wanted drug dealer, Stephen Afam Ikeanyionwu, on Sunday, August 15, 2021, to a popular pentecostal church at Mike Ajari Street, Ojodu Berger, Lagos where they arrested him soon after he stepped out of the church service.

His arrest followed the interception of a consignment of illicit drugs weighing 69.65kg going to the UK through the Lagos airport on Thursday, August 12, 2021.

The illegal baggage had been sent to the airport for export through a freight forwarding company, which in turn gave a driver to deliver at the NAHCO export shed. Following the arrest of the driver, follow-up operations and investigations later revealed the true identity of the owner of the consignment, Stephen Afam Ike Anyonwu, who was arrested three days later in a sting operation.

Also at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives arrested an Italy-bound passenger, Abibu Miminu, during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airways flight to Italy via Addis-Ababa for ingesting illicit drugs. While under observation at the agency’s facility between Saturday 14th and Sunday, August 15, 2021, the trafficker excreted 68 wraps of heroin, all weighing 800 grammes.

Meanwhile, a South Africa returnee, Obi Chigozie Samuel, was, last Sunday, arrested at the Lagos Airport during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines from Addis-Ababa for importing 58 grammes of skunk into Nigeria.