By ABBAS JIMOH

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a notorious drug baron and former Vice Chairman of Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Asekun Kehinde Sakiru.

He was arrested by NDLEA officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, said Sakiru has been on the wanted list of the agency since the arrest of some traffickers.

According to him, the long arm of the law however caught up with the wanted baron at about 9.40pm on Friday 7 May, 2021 while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic airline flight to London at the Lagos airport.

“At the point of his arrest, Asekun was caught with one 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 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 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,” Babafemi said.

He said the suspect though 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, N131 million was seized from his account and another N14m also blocked in the account of one of his traffickers, Azeez Adeniyi Ibrahim, bringing the total sum so far recovered from him to N145m.

The Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed 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.” (Text, excluding headline, courtesy Daily Trust)

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