FBI Releases 4th of 5 Batches of the #TinubuFBIFiles, Detailing Recipient of Heroin Proceeds

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on Friday, released the 4th of 5 batches of its files on Bola Ahmed Tinubu detailing his activities as the recipient of the proceeds of a heroin trafficking operation in Chicago between the late 1980s and early 1990s. The documents constitute the latest tranche of its response to a lawsuit instituted by Plainsite.org founder Aaron Greenspan and West Africa Weekly Editor-in-Chief David Hundeyin, under the Freedom Of Information Act.

West Africa Weekly earlier reported on the release of previous tranches of the FOIA documents detailing historical drug money laundering associated with Tinubu, who, in a controversial election in February 2023, became the President with the lowest official vote share ever recorded in the history of Nigerian presidential elections.

In this newly released batch, Tinubu is directly referenced as the recipient of the proceeds of heroin sales in his First Heritage Bank account, with his name redacted again.

While previous batches revealed in detail that money laundering was carried out, it reveals that in August 1992, the redacted name had travelled from Lagos, Nigeria, back to the United States in an attempt to smuggle 6.5 pounds of heroin into the country.

Such an attempt made the FBI’s Cincinnati Division request approval to open what the alphabet agency called Racketeering Enterprise Investigation (REI) on Nigerians involved in the smuggling of heroin (white, brown, and cocaine) in the United States.

The 82-page document also reveals said enterprise, headed by the now-deceased Mueez Adegboyega Akande, as a core Nigerian Drug Trafficking Organization known to be operating since the 1990s.

Meanwhile, the redacted name is a known associate of Akande before his demise, who is also the manager in charge of heroin distribution operating in and from Chicago.

However, a joint FBI/IRS/DEA investigation led to the seizure of $1,367,000.00 in First Heritage Bank’s account under the redacted name and Akande’s drug activities.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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