A former vice-chairman of Lagos-Island East Council Development Area, Asekun Kehinde Sakiru, has been apprehended by operatives of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for drug trafficking.

This is according to a statement issued by the NDLEA on Wednesday and signed by its spokesman Femi Babafemi.

The statement disclosed that Mr Asekun was on May 7, at about 9:40 p.m., intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos while trying to take a Virgin Atlantic flight to London, UK.

The agency also revealed that “Asekun had 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.”

It stated further that: “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.”

Mr Asekun was a London based baron and a politician who “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.”

Before then, Mr Asekun was in 2011 a member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) when he coordinated security for the LCDA elections in Lagos.

The suspect claims to be an international automobile dealer in his statement to the anti-drug trafficking organisation. The agency however said it was yet to verify his source of wealth from its investigation so far, it further added that, “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.”

Chairman of the agency, Buba Marwa, while commending its officers reiterated the agency’s commitment in the fight against drug trafficking in the country.

NDLEA has ramped up his bust up of drug markets and cartels since the appointment of Mr Marwa in January. The agency has also made outlandish announcements of drug interception amid arrests.

“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 rein in the traffickers,” the NDLEA boss warned.