THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested the founder and General Overseer of The Turn of Mercy Church, Adefolusho Aanu Olasele (alias Abbas Ajakaiye), for masterminding multiple shipments of illicit drugs into Nigeria.
Olasele was arrested after months of fleeing abroad to evade arrest, the NDLEA said in a statement by its spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, August 11.
Olasele was arrested in his church, located at Okun Ajah, Ogombo Road, Lekki, Lagos, on Sunday, August 3, 2025, by NDLEA officers who had been waiting for him since morning to conclude the Sunday worship service.
“The arrest came after he had evaded arrest twice and fled to Ghana to hide since June, when operatives started trailing him following the seizure of two shipments of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis linked to him.
“The first seizure of 200kg of the psychoactive substance was made at Okun Ajah beach on 4th June 2025, while another consignment of 700kg of the same substance was recovered from his delivery van on 6th July 2025, ” the NDLEA stated.
According to the agency, Olasele, in his statement, admitted ferrying the illicit consignments through the waterways from Ghana into Nigeria, adding that he had fled to the West African country to hide after he escaped arrest twice in the recent past.
In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, August 7, raided an apartment at Kishi House 11 Layi Ajayi Bembe Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, where they arrested a suspect, Benjamin Udo Ukoh, and recovered 32 pouches of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis with a total weight of 15.63kg.
In Nasarawa state, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, August 9, recovered a large consignment of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 3,093 kilogrammes from the trio of Emmanuel Asoquo Johnny, 51; Okem Raphael, 33, and Chekwube Odo, 25, at New Karu area of the state.
Similarly, a 29-year-old Nura Yahaya was nabbed at the Geza area of Kumbotso, Kano State, with 639 blocks of skunk weighing 359kg.
A reporter with the ICIR
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