ANAMBRA State-born clergyman Evangelist John Vincent Arinze has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) after being caught with over 165kg of narcotics at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos.
Arrested after an undercover operation, Evangelist Arinze, who is based in South Africa, was about to move his cargo out of Nigeria. Before his ship could sail, however, NSDLEA operatives swooped and 92kg of methamphetamine and 73kg of ephedrine were detected inside two containers of foodstuff meant for export to South Africa.
According to the NDLEA, the estimated street value of the drugs is N1.4bn. They were hidden inside packs of melon concealed in foodstuff and cosmetics such as gari, noodles, Knorr and Maggi food seasoning, yam powder, malt drinks, pepper, milk, herbal hair cream and Golden Morn cereals.
Other items in the container included Damatol hair cream, bags of melon, kegs of palm oil, beans, biscuits, sardine and cartons of Orijin Bitters. During the examination of the containers, anti-narcotic officials detected 20kg of Methamphetamine, 50kg of Ephedrine, 72kg of Methamphetamine and 23kg of Ephedrine with a combined weight of 165kg.
NDLEA chairman Col Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah said: “This is a product of careful planning and meticulous tracking of narcotic drugs movement. The consignments were closely monitored by our undercover agents and intercepted at the Apapa Seaport, Lagos, following the detection of narcotics by NDLEA sniffer dogs during screening operation.
This will definitely have a positive influence on Nigeria’s drug control efforts and I am very happy with the success recorded in this operation. The agency will remain painstaking and professional in the fight against illicit drug production, trafficking and abuse and we hope to unmask the drug syndicate behind this shipment and make more arrests soon.”
Operatives successfully traced the illicit consignment to a 52-year-old man who claimed to be an evangelist by name John Vincent Arinze who was arrested in his hotel room in Lagos. A Mercedes Benz Jeep belonging to him was also impounded at the time of the arrest.
Evangelist Arinze hails from Ara village, near Nise in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State. He has lived in South Africa for over a decade and later confessed that he made a big mistake by taking over the drug business of his late wife.
“I am an evangelist living in Durban, South Africa. My late wife was into drug trafficking before she died few years ago and I made a mistake venturing into her business," Evangelist Arinze added.
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