From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Operatives of the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a notorious drug baron and former vice chairman of Lagos Island East local council development area, LCDA, Asekun Kehinde Sakiru, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos.
Asekun has been on the wanted list of the Agency following the recent arrest of some traffickers and drug seizures linked to him.
However, Director Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, a statement yesterday, said the long arm of the law however caught up with the wanted baron at about 9.40pm on Friday, May 7, 2021 while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic airline flight to London, United Kingdom at the Lagos airport.
At the point of his arrest, Asekun was caught with a 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 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.
In the course of tracking him, the sum of N131million was seized from his account and another N14 million also blocked in the account of one of his traffickers, Azeez Adeniyi Ibrahim, bringing the total sum so far recovered from him to N145 million.
While commending the officers and men of the MMIA Command of the Agency for resilience and dedication to duty, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) said with the support of all stakeholders, the problem of drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria will be drastically reduced very soon.