A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, has convicted and sentenced a Qatar based businessman and two others, to five years imprisonment, for conspiracy and trafficking in 38.5 kilograms of tramadol, a prohibited drug call Tramadol.
The convicted men are Uchegbu Obi, 51, who is the Qatar based-businessman, Usman Inda, 48 and 48 years old Sani Salisu.
Trial judge, Justice Deinde Dipeolu convicted and sentenced them to jail-terms, after they pleaded guilty to charge of conspiracy and trafficking in the prohibited drugs.
The convicted men, according to the prosecutor, Mr. Augustine Nwagu, were arrested on December 30, 2023, during the outward clearance of Cargo to Kano on Max Airline, at the Cargo Shed of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Domestic Wing, Ikeja, Lagos.
Nwagu told the court that the convicted men conspired with the dou of Alkaseem Kurah and on Jamilu, who are both at large, to commit the crimes.
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He told the court that the acts of the convict’s, contravened sections 14(b) and Section 20(1)(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and punishable under Section 20(2)(a) of the same Act.
The convicted admitted committing the offences and pleaded guilty to the charges.
Following their guilty plea, the prosecutor, with the permission of the court, review the facts of the offences and urged the court to convict and sentence them based on their plea, exhibits tendered and in line with section 274(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
However, lawyer to the convicts, Chief Benson Ndakara, after his allucutor, pleaded with the court to give his clients a fine option in lieu of the custodian sentence.
Justice Dipeolu in judgment, sentenced the convicted men to give years imprisonment, but ordered them to pay the sum of N3 million all together, as option of fine to the jail-term.
