NDLEA arrests church officials, 2 ladies for drug trafficking in Delta

The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested four members of a drug syndicate, including two church officials, a female official of a courier company, and another lady involved in trafficking lethal opioid, fentanyl, in Warri, Delta State.

The NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday, July 9, 2023.

Babafemi stated that the bust of the fentanyl cartel operating in Warri, Delta State, comes barely a month after two members of another syndicate – Odoh Collins Oguejiofor and Oliver Chigozie Uzoma – were arrested at Ogbogwu market in Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra State, following months of intelligence-led investigation of the syndicates behind the dangerous drug, which is 100 times more potent than heroin and currently responsible for over 70 per cent overdose deaths as well as a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the United States.

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He noted that two officials of Christ Mercyland Deliverance Ministries (aka Mercy City Church), Warri, Delta State – Adewale Abayomi Ayeni, 39, and Ebipakebina Appeal, 41 – linked to two intercepted consignments of the illicit drug were arrested in Warri.

He disclosed that Ayeni is one of those managing the prayer call centre of the church, while Ebipakebina is in charge of the movement of international guests from the airport to the church.

The NDLEA said two female accomplices also arrested in Warri in the course of investigating the intercepted shipments were 28-year-old Naomi David, who is a staff of United Parcel Services (UPS), and 27-year-old Stacy Njideka, who is a business associate of Ayeni.

In his reaction, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), urged the officers of the anti-drug agency and their compatriots across the country to continue to set their eyes on the goal of ridding the nation of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.

The Star