13th March, 2022
The General Overseer of Christ Living Hope Church, Rev. Ugochukwu Emmanuel Ekwem has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
He was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos while on his way to a three-week crusade in Nairobi, Kenya, with 54 sticks of drugs wrapped around his body.
The youthful and popular preacher who has his church headquarters in Isuaniocha, Mgbakwu road, Awka, Awka North LGA, Anambra state and two other branches in Lagos and Abuja, was arrested on Monday 7 March.
His arrest was made during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi via Addis Ababa.
When tested, the 54 sticks proved positive to cannabis.
The clergyman confessed during preliminary interview that he packed that quantity of illicit substance on his body to use during his three weeks crusade in Kenya.
Meanwhile, a drug dealer in Kaduna state, James Okenwa has been arrested in a follow up operation at Central Market, Kaduna.
He admitted the ownership of 1,807 bottles of cough syrup with codeine that were earlier recovered from two suspects at tollgate. At the point of his arrest, another 152 bottles of the drug were recovered from his vehicle.
He has accepted ownership of all the 1,959 bottles of the codeine syrup.
In Yobe state, two fake security agents: Akalonu Justin and Azimbi Festus who were coming from Onitsha and heading to Maiduguri, Borno state have been arrested with 25 blocks of Cannabis Sativa weighing 12 .5kg and 1, 598 bottles of Codeine Syrup weighing 159.8 Liters.
About 85kg of cannabis was also recovered from the warehouse of a notorious drug dealer in Pawari area of Damaturu, the state capital on Thursday 10th March.
In Anambra state, a total of 38,605 tablets of assorted opioids were recovered from a 29-year-old drug dealer, Awoke Friday at Nkwelle junction, Onitsha on Friday 11th March with the support of men of the Nigeria Police.