A 25-year-old lady, Chioma Okocha, and five men, Ndubuisi John, Haruna Aliyu, Saddam Abdullahi, Bashir Usman and Usman Ibrahim, have been sentenced to a total of 141 years imprisonment for trafficking in cocaine and Indian hemp by the Federal High Courts in Benin, Edo, and Abeokuta, Ogun, states respectively.
Chioma was convicted and sentenced to 15 years by Justice A.C. Obiozor in Benin for trafficking 200g of cocaine. She was arrested in Benin on September, 2021, by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and arraigned with Suit No FHC/B/136c/2021.
Spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Tuesday, said the convict pleaded guilty to a one-count charge when her case came up in court on Monday 15 November.
Babafemi said, “The judge, however, granted her the option of paying N2m fine.”
The five men: Ndubuisi John; Haruna Aliyu; Saddam Abdullahi; Bashir Usman and Usman Ibrahim, were also convicted and sentenced to 126 years in Abeokuta by Justice Ogunremi Omowunmi Oguntoyinbo in Suit No. FHC/AB/105c/2021.
The convicts were arrested on September 14, 2021, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway conveying 46 bags of Indian hemp weighing 552k in a truck.
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 got 15 years.
While Ndubuisi, Haruna and Saddam were sentenced to 10 years on each count charge, Bashir got seven years on each count charge and Usman five years on each count charge.
The jail terms are to run concurrently.
