A Celestial Church of Christ pastor and his wife are in the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency after operatives discovered blocks of skunk concealed in hidden compartments of their vehicle during a routine stop and search operation.
The pastor, identified as Afolabi Hodonu, 45, who leads the Celestial Church of Christ congregation at Agonvi Sea Beach in the Sakpo area of Seme border, Badagry, Lagos, was arrested alongside his wife, Mrs. Success Hodonu, 35, on Thursday, April 2nd. The arrest took place at the Gbaji checkpoint along the Seme border, where NDLEA operatives flagged down their vehicle and subsequently found 11kg of skunk stashed in concealed parts of the car.
According to a statement issued by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, the couple’s arrest did not happen in isolation. It came on the heels of a separate bust at the same checkpoint just days earlier, when a man identified as Sunday Samuel, 35, was apprehended on Monday, March 30th while allegedly transporting a significantly larger consignment of 24.5kg of skunk from the Seme border into Lagos. Samuel, described in the statement as a fake security agent, had apparently been using his fraudulent security identity to move the drugs without raising suspicion.
The NDLEA is yet to disclose whether the pastor, his wife, and Sunday Samuel are connected or whether the two incidents are being investigated separately.
