The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested Asekun Kehinde Sakiru, a former vice-chairman of Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area (LCDA) for alleged drug trafficking.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by Femi Babalola, NDLEA Director of Media and Publicity, on Wednesday.
According to the agency, Sakiru was nabbed by operatives of the NDLEA at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos last Friday while the suspect was trying to board a Virgin Atlantic airline flight to London.
It stated that the politician has been on the wanted list of the agency in connection to some cases, adding that he was caught with a kilogram of cocaine.
The statement partly read: “He (Sakiru) 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.
“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,” the statement read.
“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.”
The NDLEA said it has also recovered the sum of N145 million from Sakiru from different bank accounts.
“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.
“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,” the statement read.
While commending the officers and men of the MMIA command, Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, said the agency is committed to ridding the country of drug traffickers.
