Politician arrested at airport while smuggling cocaine in slippers

Former Vice Chairman of Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Sakiru Asekun, has been arrested while allegedly attempting to smuggle cocaine concealed in slippers.

Mr Asekun was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Murtala Muhammed International Airport on his way to London, United Kingdom.

At the point of his arrest, he was caught with a kilogram of cocaine concealed in five pairs of palm slippers packed inside his suitcase.

According to a statement on Wednesday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the suspect has been on the agency’s wanted list since December 2020 “in connection with a case involving one Azeez Adeniyi Ibrahim who was arrested with 6.45kg of cocaine.”

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.”

During preliminary investigation, it was gathered that the supposed 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.