Church officials, 2 women arrested over drugs

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested four members of a drug syndicate, two church officials, a female staff of a courier company and another woman, involved in trafficking the lethal opioid, fentanyl, in Delta State.

Spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in a statement, said that the bust of the fentanyl cartel operating from Warri, Delta State, was coming barely a month after two members of another syndicate, Odoh Collins Oguejiofor and Oliver Chigozie Uzoma, were arrested at the Ogbogwu Market, Onitsha Head Bridge, Onitsha South LGA of Anambra State.

He said their arrests followed months of investigation of the syndicate behind the dangerous drug, which was 100 times more potent than heroin and currently responsible for over 70 per cent of overdose deaths, as well as a major contributor to fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the United States.

The statement reads in part: “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 have been arrested in Warri. While Ayeni is one of those managing the prayer call centre of the church, Ebipakebina is in charge of movement of international guests from the airport to the church.

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“Two female accomplices, also arrested in Warri in the course of investigating the intercepted shipments, are Naomi David (28), who is a staff of the United Parcel Services (UPS), and Stacy Njideka, also known as Nkiruka (27), who is a business associate of Ayeni.”