Fake priest nabbed smuggling heroin at Rome airport

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A Nigerian national masquerading as an American missionary priest was nabbed upon landing at Rome's international airport with three kilos of pure heroin stitched into his laptop case, Italian police said on Saturday.

That amount of heroin has street retail value of over $1.2 million, according to a police statement cited by Xinhua news agency.

The fake priest claimed he was returning from missionary work in the African country of Mozambique. When customs agents at Fiumicino Airport began taking his luggage apart, he brandished a cross hanging around his neck and threatened the officers with excommunication, saying they were committing sacrilege.

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