60yr old pastor arrested with hard drugs worth N609m at Lagos airport

A 60 year old resident pastor of the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim at Agodo-Egbe, Ikotun Lagos, Prophet Micheal Raji, has been arrested by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA over unlawful attempt to export of 174 kilogrammes of hard narcotic drugs worth N609 million to South Africa.

Prophet Raji, believed to be a member of a drug trafficking syndicate, concealed 91kg of Methamphetamine and 83kg of Ephedrine with an estimated street value of N609 million in different foodstuffs tied in polythene bags.

According to Vanguard, 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 says he was found with three international passports bearing his name with his 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.