The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a notorious drug baron and a former Vice Chairman of Lagos Island East local council development area, Asekun Kehinde Sakiru, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State.
Asekun has been on the wanted list of the Agency since the arrest of some drug traffickers and drug seizures linked to him.
A statement released on Wednesday, May 12th, by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, revealed the wanted baron was intercepted at about 9.40pm on Friday May 9th, 2021 while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic airline flight to London, United Kingdom at the Lagos airport.
He was caught with a kilogramme of cocaine concealed in five pairs of palm slippers packed inside his suitcase.
Asekun has been on the wanted list of the MMIA Command of the Agency after 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 drug 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.
Although Asekun boasts of being an international businessman who deals in automobiles, investigation is yet to confirm that to be the source of his acquired wealth.
In the course of tracking him, the sum of N131 million 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.
Commending the officers and men of the MMIA Command of the Agency for their resilience and dedication to duty, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (Retd) said; “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.”