Drug Trafficking: NDLEA apprehends ex-Local Council Chair with cocaine at Lagos Airport

*At the point of his arrest at MMIA in Lagos, Asekun Kehinde Sakiru, a former Vice-Chairman of Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area, was caught with a kilogramme of cocaine concealed in five pairs of palm slippers packed inside his suitcase ─ National Drug Law Enforcement Agency

Emmanuel Akosile | ConsumerConnect

Perhaps ignorant of the fact that the anti-narcotics regulatory agency had been on his trail over an alleged link to drug trafficking for a while, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says it has arrested Asekun Kehinde Sakiru, a former Vice-Chairman of Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area (LCDA) with cocaine.

Femi Babafemi, Spokesman of NDLEA, in a statement Wednesday, May 12 confirmed that operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency had arrested Asekun at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), in Lagos.

The statement said the suspect had been on the NDLEA’s wanted list, following the recent arrest of some traffickers and drug seizures linked to the former Local Government Vice-Chairman in Lagos State.

Babafemi noted: “The long arm of the law however caught up with the wanted baron at about 9.40 pm on Friday, 7th May, 2021, while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic airline flight to London, the United Kingdom, at the Lagos airport.

“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 has been on the wanted list of the MMIA Command of the Agency in connection to (sic) a case involving one Azeez Adeniyi Ibrahim, who was arrested with 6.45kg of cocaine in December 2020.”

Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect, a London-based suspected drug baron, is a seasoned politician, the regulatory agency stated.

According to the NDLEA, Sae 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.

The agency also stated: “Although he claims to be an international businessman who deals in automobiles, the 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.”

Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman of NDLEA, in his reaction to the Asekun’s arrest, commended the officers and men of the MMIA Command of the Agency for resilience and dedication to duty.

Marwa is also confident that with the support of all stakeholders, the problem of drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria will be drastically reduced very soon, according to the statement.

The NDLEA Chief 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, we will continue to reign in the traffickers.”