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THE intelligence gathering embarked on by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency led to the arrest of the former Vice-Chairman - Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area, Sakiru Asekun.
Asekun was arrested for allegedly being in possession of a kilogramme of cocaine concealed in five pairs of palm slippers inside his suitcase.
A statement made available to Alimoshotoday.com reveals how the former Local Government Vice Chairman was tracked down in Lagos on May 7, 2021, while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to London, United Kingdom.
The statement reads in part, “A notorious drug baron and former Vice-Chairman of the Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area, Asekun Kehinde Sakiru, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
“Asekun had been on the wanted list of the agency following the recent arrest of some traffickers and drug seizures linked to him. The long arm of the law, however, caught up with the wanted baron around 9.40 pm on Friday, May 7, 2021, while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to London 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 had been on the wanted list of the MMIA Command of the agency in connection with a case involving one Azeez Adeniyi Ibrahim, who was arrested with 6.45kg of cocaine in December 2020.
“During the 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 the Lagos Island East LCDA. He had also contested and lost elections for House of Representatives in 2007 and the Lagos State House of Assembly in 2015.
“Although, he claims to be an international businessman, who deals in automobiles, investigation has yet to confirm that to be the source of his acquired wealth.”
Babafemi added that in the course of tracking the suspect, N131m was seized from his account and another N14m also blocked in the account of one of his traffickers, Azeez Ibrahim, bringing the total sum recovered from him to N145m.
