LAGOS, Nigeria (BN24) — The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Lagos-based pastor, Adefolusho Aanu Olasele—also known as Abbas Ajakaiye—over his alleged involvement in multiple drug trafficking operations between Ghana and Nigeria. Olasele, the founder and General Overseer of The Turn of Mercy Church in Okun Ajah, Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria, was apprehended on Sunday, August 3, 2025, following months of evading arrest.
According to a statement released by NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi, the agency had linked Olasele to two major seizures of cannabis, locally known as “Ghana Loud.” Officers waited outside the church for hours during Sunday worship before arresting him as he exited the premises.
Olasele had reportedly fled to Ghana in June to avoid capture after two large drug consignments—200kg seized at Okun Ajah Beach on June 4 and 700kg recovered from a delivery van on July 6—were traced back to him. Both seizures involved high-grade psychoactive cannabis, believed to have been transported across international waters.
“In his statement, he admitted ferrying the illicit consignments through the waterways from Ghana into Nigeria,” Babafemi said. “He had fled to a West African country to hide after he escaped arrest twice.”
The arrest of the cleric comes amid an intensified nationwide crackdown on narcotics. In a separate raid on Thursday, August 7, NDLEA operatives stormed an apartment in Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, arresting a suspect identified as Benjamin Ukoh and seizing 32 pouches of Canadian Loud cannabis weighing 15.63 kilograms.
Similar operations unfolded across the country. In Nasarawa State, three suspects—Emmanuel Asoquo Johnny, 51; Okem Raphael, 33; and Chekwube Odo, 25—were arrested in New Karu with 3,093 kilograms of skunk, another potent strain of cannabis. In Kano, NDLEA officers seized 359kg of skunk from 29-year-old Nura Yahaya on August 8. They arrested 27-year-old Umar Adamu Umar on August 6 along the Zaria-Kano highway with 9kg of synthetic cannabis, Colorado.
In Gombe State, a raid on an uncompleted building in Tudun Wadan Pantami on August 8 led to the recovery of over half a million opioid pills and the arrest of suspect Usama Isah. A separate arrest the following day saw 23-year-old Ibrahim Adamu caught along Potiskum Road in possession of 50,000 capsules of tramadol.
Edo State operatives intercepted a Toyota Hiace bus traveling from Onitsha to Kogi at Ewu Junction on August 6. The search revealed 23,940 tramadol capsules, 1,100 tablets, and 400 ampoules of pentazocine, a synthetic opioid. The driver, Taiye Jethro, was taken into custody.
Reacting to the nationwide operations, NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retired) commended the agency’s operatives and urged personnel to maintain a strategic and balanced approach in executing drug control missions across the country.
The arrest of a religious leader at the center of a transnational drug smuggling operation has added a new layer to the NDLEA’s ongoing war against narcotics, highlighting the growing complexities and reach of organized trafficking networks operating across West Africa.
