NDLEA operatives arrested Pastor Afolabi Hodonu, 45, and his wife, Mrs Success Hodonu, 35, at the Gbaji checkpoint in Lagos on Thursday, April 2. The couple, linked to the Celestial Church of Christ in Sakpo, Seme border, were found with 11 kilograms of skunk hidden in secret compartments of their Honda Pilot SUV. The arrest followed the March 30 interception of Sunday Samuel, 35, a fake security agent caught transporting 24.5 kilograms of the same drug from Seme to Lagos. Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesman, confirmed the seizures and stated that investigations connected the pastor and his wife to the earlier bust.
In another operation, NDLEA officers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja intercepted 3.10 kilograms of cocaine hidden in tins of palm kernel extract destined for the United Kingdom. Arrested were Idris Olayiwola Amoo and Akinlami Akinsoji Adedoyin, with later raids leading to the capture of alleged sender Ezemuwo Joel and syndicate kingpin King Arinze, 52, in Isolo. Authorities recovered 886 tins prepared for drug concealment and packaging tools from Arinze's warehouse. On April 1, in Borno State, 28-year-old Aisha Adamu was arrested on Gamboru Ngala road with 4.3 kilograms of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis strain, allegedly intended for bandit groups. Additional nationwide seizures included 48,000 tramadol pills in Adamawa, 1,378 kilograms of skunk in Edo, and an Ibadan woman using her 11-year-old daughter to distribute drugs. Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, praised the operations and reaffirmed the agency's resolve to dismantle trafficking networks.
A pastor and his wife now face drug charges, showing that religious titles no longer shield individuals from prosecution in Nigeria's narcotics crackdown. The 11 kilograms of skunk found in their SUV points to a deeper infiltration of drug trafficking into trusted community roles. This shift suggests traffickers are increasingly exploiting positions of respect to move illicit goods across borders. For Nigerians, it means no institution is immune from the reach of drug cartels—or the scope of enforcement.
