Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested drug baron and former Vice Chairman of Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Asekun Kehinde Sakiru.
Sakiru was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
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Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, said Sakiru had been on the wanted list of the agency following recent arrest of some traffickers and drug seizures linked to him.
According to him, the long arm of the law, however, caught up with the baron at about 9.pm on Friday May 7, 2021, while he was trying to board a Virgin Atlantic airline to London at the Lagos airport.
Babafemi explained that, “At the point of his arrest, Asekun was caught with one kilogramme of cocaine concealed in five pairs of palm slippers packed inside his suitcase. He has been on the wanted list of the MMIA Command of the agency in connection to a case involving one Azeez Adeniyi Ibrahim who was arrested with 6.45kg of cocaine in December, 2020.
“During preliminary investigation, it was gathered that the London-based baron is a seasoned politician. He was at different times between 2004 and 2014 the Vice Chairman of Lagos Island East LCDA. He had also contested and lost elections for House of Representatives in 2007 and Lagos State House of Assembly in 2015.”
He said the suspect who claimed to be an international businessman in automobiles was yet to reveal the source of his wealth.
Babafemi further said in the course of tracking him, N131m was seized from his account and another N14m blocked in the account of one of his traffickers, Azeez Adeniyi Ibrahim, bringing the total sum so far recovered from him to N145m.
