The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) command at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos has announced the arrest of erstwhile vice chairman of Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Mr. Asekun Kehinde Sakiru.
Spokesman for the agency, Mr. Femi Babafemi, Asekuun is alleged to have been on the wanted list of the agency. He is alleged to have “made his way to the agency’s blacklist following the recent arrest of some traffickers and drug seizures linked to him.”
“Asekun 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 6.45 kilogrammes of cocaine in December 2020.
“The long arm of the law caught up with the wanted baron at about 9.40 pm last Friday while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic airline flight to London, the United Kingdom at the Lagos airport.
“At the point of Asekun’s arrest, he was caught with a kilogramme of cocaine concealed in five pairs of palm slippers packed inside his suitcase,” Babafemi said.
He further disclosed that during the preliminary investigation, it was gathered that Asekun who is based in London-based is a seasoned politician and at different times between 2004 and 2014 was the vice chairman of Lagos Island East LCDA.
He is also said to have contested and lost elections for house of representatives in 2007 and Lagos state house of assembly in 2015.
The agency also disclosed that the sum of N131 million and N14 million naira found in two of Asekun’s accounts during tracking had been blocked.
Speaking on the arrest, the chairman/chief executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd) commended the officers and men of the command for the arrest.
“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 said.
