Justice Muslim Hassan of a Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted a drug Trafficker, Odeyemu Adedeji, for trafficking about four Kilogrammes of Methamphetamine, a hard drug similar to cocaine and heroine.
The judge gave the verdict after founding him guilty of the two count charges levelled against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
Reading the judgement, the judge noted that the prosecution has been able and successfully proved the charges against him.
According to anti drug agency, the convict on April 20, 2014, imported the said drug from Republic of Benin, and attempted to export same on April 28, 2014, to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
NDLEA said that the convict was apprehended with the ‘cargo’ at departure hall of Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Ikeja.
Earlier, before the verdict, the convict informed the court that he wants to change his plea to guilty, which was granted by the Court.
The offences the convict had pleaded not guilty to when he was first arraigned sometimes in 2014.
Following his change of plea, the court asked the prosecutor to review the facts of the charge.
In reviewing the fact, the prosecutor, Mrs. Obiageri Iwuchukwu, told the court that the offences committed by the convict contravened section 11(a) and 11(b) of the NDLEA Act. Cap. N30, Laws of the federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The prosecutor, tendered the ‘cargo’ alongside his statements and laboratory analysis text that confirmed that the ‘cargo’ was banned drug.
After tendering the items, she urged the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
Following the convict’s change of plea and the submission of the prosecutor, Justice Hassan pronounced the convict guilty as charged and sentenced him to three yeas imprisonment.
However, during the trial, the defendant absconded due to his arrest by the NDLEA operatives for involving in another drugs related offences and he is currently being prosecuted by the agency before another judge of the same court.
