The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested and placed under detention a former Vice Chairman, Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Asekun Sakiru, for his involvement in drug trafficking and other illegal substances.
The former council boss, said to be a notorious drug baron, was arrested last Friday by operatives of narcotic agency at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos.
As said, Asekun has been on the wanted list of the agency following recent arrest of some traffickers and drug seizures linked to him.
Confirming the development, NDLEA Chairman, Brig. General Buba Marwa (Retd), said that the suspect was arrested at about 9.40pm on Friday 7th May 2021 while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic airline flight to London, United Kingdom at the Lagos airport.
Through a statement on Wednesday by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, Marwa said that the suspect 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.
According to him, 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 added that: “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.
“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 the House of Representatives in 2007 and Lagos State House of Assembly in 2015. Although he claims to be an international businessman who deals in automobiles, investigation is yet to confirm that to be the source of his acquired wealth,” the statement quoted him as saying.
While commending officers and men of the MMIA Command of the agency for their resilience and dedication to duty, the NDLEA boss said that with the support of all stakeholders, challenges of drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria would be drastically reduced.
“This arrest is yet another message and red alert to those still in this criminal trade whether as barons or traffickers that they will soon enter the dragnet of the Agency, daily being spread across the country, if they fail to back out especially now that we are moving all out for the barons and the big cartels while we continue to reign in the traffickers,” he added.