NDLEA Arrests Lagos Pastor Over Alleged Cross-Border Drug Trafficking

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended the founder and general overseer of The Turn of Mercy Church in Lagos, Prophet Adefolusho Aanu Olasele — also known as Abbas Ajakaiye — for allegedly masterminding multiple shipments of illicit drugs from Ghana into Nigeria.

NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi confirmed the arrest in a statement on Sunday, revealing that the suspect had been on the run for months. He was taken into custody on Sunday, August 3, 2025, at his church in the Okun Ajah area of Lekki, Lagos, after operatives waited for the Sunday service to end.

According to Babafemi:

“After months of fleeing abroad to evade arrest, the Founder and General Overseer of The Turn of Mercy Church, Prophet Adefolusho Aanu Olasele (alias Abbas Ajakaiye) has been arrested for masterminding multiple shipments of illicit drugs into Nigeria.

Prophet Adefolusho was arrested at his church located in Okun Ajah, Ogombo road, Lekki area of Lagos on Sunday, August 3, 2025 by NDLEA officers who had been waiting for him since morning to conclude the Sunday worship service in the evening before moving in on him the moment he stepped out of the church premises.

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 June 4, 2025, while another consignment of 700kg of the same substance was recovered from his delivery van on July 6, 2025.”

The NDLEA said the cleric confessed to moving the illicit consignments through waterways from Ghana into Nigeria and admitted fleeing to the neighbouring country after twice escaping arrest.

The statement also detailed other major operations carried out across the country in recent days:

• Lagos: On August 7, NDLEA operatives raided an apartment at Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, arresting Benjamin Udo Ukoh and recovering 32 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 15.63kg.
• Nasarawa: On August 9, officers intercepted 3,093kg of skunk from three suspects — Emmanuel Asoquo Johnny, 51; Okem Raphael, 33; and Chekwube Odo, 25 — in New Karu.
• Kano: Two suspects were arrested — Nura Yahaya, 29, with 359kg of skunk on August 8, and Umar Adamu Umar, 27, with 9kg of Colorado on August 6. Another suspect, Usman Musa, 30, was caught with 20,000 pills of tramadol and 200 ampoules of diazepam on August 8.
• Gombe: A raid on August 8 led to the seizure of 550,266 pills of opioids and the arrest of Usama Isah. The following day, Ibrahim Adamu, 23, was caught with 50,000 capsules of tramadol along Potiskum Road, Bajoga.
  
  
• Edo: On August 6, officers intercepted a Toyota Hiace bus carrying 23,940 capsules of tramadol, 1,100 tablets of the same drug, and 400 ampoules of pentazocine. The driver, Taiye Jethro, was arrested.
  
  

The NDLEA also highlighted ongoing War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, places of worship, workplaces, and communities across Nigeria.

Commending the various commands for their work, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) urged officers nationwide to sustain the agency’s “balanced approach” to drug control.