Court sentences lady to 15 years imprisonment for drug trafficking offence

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A 25-year-old lady, Chioma Okocha, has been sentenced to 15 years in jail by Justice AC Obiozor of the Federal High Court in Benin, the Edo State capital.

Ms Okocha was convicted for trafficking 200grams of crack cocaine, following her arrest in the Edo State capital on 24 September, 2021, by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The conviction comes on the heels of her arraignment in suit No. FHC/B/136c/2021.

NDLEA in a statement on Wednesday stated that the convict pleaded guilty to one-count when her case came up in court on Monday, November, 15.

The judge, however, granted her the option of paying a N2 million fine or spending 15 years in jail effective from September 24 when she was arrested while trying to deliver 200grams of Crack Cocaine to a customer at an eatery in Benin city.

Similarly, five men: Ndubuisi John, Haruna Aliyu, Saddam Abdullahi, Bashir Usman, and Usman Ibrahim have been sentenced to a total of 126-years imprisonment for trafficking in cocaine and cannabis sativa.

Their sentence was passed at the Federal High Courts sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The five men; Ndubuisi were sentenced by Justice Ogunremi Omowunmi Oguntoyinbo in suit no. FHC/AB/105c/2021.

The convicts were arrested on the 14th of September 2021 along Lagos -Ibadan expressway conveying 46 bags of Cannabis Sativa weighing 552 kilograms in a truck.

They were subsequently charged on three counts of transportation, possession and dealing in the illicit drug.

In her judgment delivered on November 9, Justice Oguntoyinbo, sentenced the 1st, 2nd and 3rd accused persons to 30 years’ imprisonment each while the driver of the truck bagged 21 years and the motor boy/driver’s assistant 15 years in jail.

While Ndubuisi, Haruna and Saddam were sentenced to 10 years on each count, Bashir got seven years on each count and Usman five years on each count.

The jail terms are to run concurrently.