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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has told a federal court in the United States that a former Chicago mobster with ties to President Bola Tinubu has died.
According to the Peoples Gazette, the FBI said this on Wednesday as part of its latest update in an ongoing Freedom of Information lawsuit before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C.
“In light of receiving information that appears to confirm Mr Edwards’ death, DEA has begun its search for responsive records pertaining to him,” the U.S. authorities said in a court filing sighted by Peoples Gazette.
According to the report, officials did not disclose when and how Mr Edwards died.
On September 15, 2008, SaharaReporters reported that facts had emerged that Tinubu – a former Lagos governor – might have been involved in a white heroin trafficking network which operated in Chicago and some parts of Indiana and led by one Adegboyega Mueez Akande between 1988 and 1993.
The source of the white heroine was identified as Mr. Edwards, who was incarcerated for attempting to murder a federal agent while the agent was executing a search warrant on him.
According to the Verified Complaint for forfeiture in case No. 93 C 4483 obtained by SaharaReporters, which was filed on July 26, 1993 before the Hon. Judge Nordberg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Government urged the Court to order the forfeiture of funds in accounts Nos. 263226700 held by First Heritage Bank in the name of Bola Tinubu, funds in accounts 39483134, 39483396, 4650279566, 00400220, 39936404 and 39936383 held by Citibank N.A in the name of Bola Tinubu and funds in accounts 52050-89451952,52050-89451952, 52050-89451953 held by Citibank in the name of Bola Tinubu because there was probable cause to believe that the funds in Tinubu’s bank accounts represented proceeds of narcotics trafficking or were monies involved in financial transactions in violations of 18 U.S.C, sections 1956 and 1957 and therefore, was forfeitable to the U.S. Government.
However, in a tacit defence of the ownership of the funds, Tinubu averred in Court that the funds belonged to himself, his wife, K.O. Tinubu and his surrogate mother, Alhaja Mogaji (now deceased) and warranted that they had exclusive right, title and interest to the funds.
In an affidavit sworn to by Kevin Moss, a Special Agent with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, criminal investigation division in support of the verified complaint for forfeiture of Tinubu’s monies held in various bank accounts, the agent gave a vivid account of how he concluded that the funds were proceeds of narcotics transaction in violation of the U.S law.
Mr. Moss averred that before and during 1988; the government became involved in the investigation of a white heroin trafficking network operating in Chicago, Illinois and Hammond, Indiana. The investigation disclosed that an individual known as Lee Andrew Edwards was a source of white heroin.
The government sources provided information about Lee Andrew Edwards including the identity of a telephone number which was activated in an electronic pager. The pager, according to him, was to be called to place an order for white heroin.
According to Mr. Moss, the pager was subscribed to by one Adegboyega Mueez Akande who at that time was a resident of Chicago.
Mr. Moss further averred that during February 1988, an individual named Abiodun Agbele arrived in the U.S. from Nigeria and during an investigation by the government, Agbele disclosed that Akande was his uncle who provided him an apartment in Hammond, Indiana.
According to Agbele, Mr. Akande returned to Nigeria in1990; however, before he left, he instructed Agbele to serve as a source of white heroin for Mr. Lee Andrew Edwards as a result of which Agbele sold white heroin for Lee Andrew Edwards on numerous occasions.
Following a tip-off, Agbele sold one ounce of white heroin to a law enforcement agent undercover on November 28, 1990 for $7,000 and was subsequently arrested. After his arrest, Agbele agreed to cooperate with the law enforcement agents regarding the white heroin distribution and network of Akande.
According to Agbele, Akande controlled the operation of white heroin from Nigeria in conjunction with other individuals in Nigeria and the U.S.
One other individual who worked with Akande according to the affidavit was identified as Bola Tinubu who later became the governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 and is currently Nigeria’s President.