The Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday convicted and sentenced a 51-year-old Qatar-based Nigerian businessman, Uchegbu Obi, and two others to five years imprisonment, for trafficking 38.5 kilograms of tramadol.
The other two convicts sentenced alongside Obi are Usman Inda, 48, and Sani Salisu, 48.
The convicts were arraigned on two counts bordering on conspiracy and drug trafficking preferred against them by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
Justice Deinde Dipeolu handed down the jail term after the trio pleaded guilty to the offence levelled against them.
During the arraignment of the convicts, the prosecutor, Mr. Augustine Nwagu, told the court that the convicts were arrested on December 30, 2023, during the outward clearance of cargo to Kano on Max Airline, at the Cargo Shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Domestic Wing, Ikeja, Lagos.
Nwagu told the court that the convicts conspired with the duo of Alkaseem Kurah and one Jamilu, who are both at large, to traffic 38.50 kilograms of tramadol and 250mg of a psychotropic substance similar to heroin.
According to him, the offences committed contravened Sections 14(b), 20(1)(a) and were punishable under Section 20 (2) (a) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
However, the convicts admitted to committing the offences and pleaded guilty to the charges.
Following their guilty plea, the prosecutor reviewed 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.
But the lawyer to the convicts, Benson Ndakara, after his plea for mercy, begged the court to give his clients a fine option instead of the custodian sentence.
Justice Dipeolu in his judgment sentenced the convicts to five years imprisonment each but ordered them to pay the sum of N3m, all together, as an option of fine to the jail term.
