By Damilare Adeleye
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested Afolabi Hodonu, the 45-year-old pastor in charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Agonvi Sea Beach, in the Sakpo area of the Seme border, Badagry, Lagos State.
His wife, 35-year-old Mrs. Success Hodonu, was also taken into custody for the possession of illicit drugs.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, the couple was apprehended on Thursday, April 2, by NDLEA operatives at the Gbaji checkpoint.
A search of their Honda Pilot SUV led to the recovery of blocks of skunk weighing 11kg, which were found in hidden compartments of the vehicle.
The arrest of the couple followed the apprehension of a fake security agent, 35-year-old Sunday Samuel, at the same checkpoint on Monday, March 30, while he was conveying 24.5kg of skunk from the Seme border to Lagos.
Babafemi added that in Adamawa State, NDLEA officers on patrol along Namtari Road, Yola South, intercepted a trailer marked RUW 947 XA on Monday, March 30, transporting 48,000 pills of Tramadol.
The truck driver, Abdulaziz Ismail Korede, was arrested, while a follow-up operation led to the arrest of the intended recipient, Idris Adamu.
In further operations, 60-year-old Idiatu Oladejo was arrested with 15kg of skunk in Isale Osun, Osogbo, Osun State, on Wednesday, April 1. Additionally, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence raided the Itaogbolu forest in Akure, Ondo State, where they recovered 351 kilograms of skunk and its seeds.
On that same day, no fewer than 28,600 capsules of Tramadol were seized from 66-year-old Aminu Usman Gembu during his arrest at Aliade, Benue State.
In Edo State, 37-year-old Roland Owie was arrested on Monday, March 30, following a raid on his warehouse in the Egbanke community, Orhionmwon LGA, where 1,378 kilograms of skunk were recovered.
In the same vein, a notorious drug dealer, 40-year-old Ayantola Omodunmomi (also known as Iya Elle), was arrested on Wednesday, April 1, in the Eleta area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Her arrest followed intelligence and surveillance regarding her use of her 11-year-old daughter, Anjola, to deliver illicit drugs to customers. At the time of her arrest, 45.6kg of skunk was recovered from her warehouse.