Cambodian branch of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries denies being a front for drug dealing
A Cambodian branch of a Nigerian church was linked to drug trafficking after eight Nigerians were arrested for allegedly selling methamphetamine in Phnom Penh. A spokesman for the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) church denied that the arrested Nigerians were its members.
The eight Nigerians were arrested along with a Cambodian woman named Morn Vinyung in January 2015. According to Khmer Times, the group's operations were discovered by the police when Vinyung allegedly delivered drugs to undercover agents in three separate occasions at a supermarket in Chamkarmon district.
Vinyung and a Nigerian man was initially arrested while delivering drugs to the agents. The remaining seven Nigerians were arrested in three separate homes in the Boeung Tumpon commune.
The group initially denied the drug charges and insisted that they were Christian missionaries but some eventually admitted to their involvement in dealing drugs. The trial ended on Aug. 12 and a verdict is expected on Sept. 12.
Nnamezie Victor, one of the arrested men, was named as the leader of the Phnom Penh branch of the MFM church. He claimed that he was forced by the police to confess to the charges during his interrogation.
"Police arrested me while I was praying at my own home. They handcuffed me and called me a drug dealer," he told Khmer Times, adding, "But I don't know anything about this case or about any drugs. I am the victim of accusations and arrest by the police."
In an interview with Sunday Punch, Oladele Bank-Olemoh, chairman of MFM Media Committee Worldwide, denied that the arrested men were members of the church and said that the church in Cambodia is still active.
"The MFM church is not shut down. Our pastor is there and he's busy in the ministry. Those arrested are not members of the church. They are neither our missionaries nor workers in the church. The MFM church is the only African church in Cambodia that many black people attend," he said.
Bank-Olemoh falsely claimed that Cambodia is a Muslim country and went on to say that linking the accused to the church could be "a vendetta against the church."
