Court Jails Woman 15 Years For Multiple Drugs Trafficking
A Lagos Federal High Court, Tuesday, sentenced a woman, Oladitan Serah Olufunmilayo, to a total of 15 years for trafficking in multiple banned substances.
Justice Daniel Osiagor, passed the jail term on the 32 years old woman, after she pleaded guilty to five counts charge of trafficking in the banned drugs made against her, by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The convicted woman, the prosecutor, Mr. Augustine Nwagu, told the court was arrested with the prohibited drugs, on November 3, 2022, at NAHCO Export Shed at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, during the examination/clearing of cargo to Dubai, a city in United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Nwagu told the court that the drugs arrested the convict with includes: 7 grammes of Cocaine; 11 grammes of Methamphetamine; 52 grammes of Cannabis Sativa; and 47 grammes of Tramadol 225mg and 106 grammes of Rohypnol, which were psychotropic substances.
The prosecutor told the court that the offences committed by the woman, contravened sections 11(b) and 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.
With the woman’s guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to convict and sentence her, according to the sections of the laws she was charged with.
But her lawyer, Dennis Warri, pleaded with the court to tampering justice with mercy in sentencing her, adding that his client was a first time offender, who did not have previous criminal record.
Warri told the court that the convict has been I’ll since last year December that was reason she was not arraigned upon her arrest. He told the court that convict was misled by those who gave her the drugs,.
Warri while citing plethora of authorities, pleaded with the court to give the convict an option of fine and non-custodian sentence in lieu of custodian sentence.
Justice Osiagor in his judgment, sentenced the convict to three years imprisonment in each, with an option of N350, 000, 00 and one week on each of the counts.
The judge however, ordered that the jail-term to run concurrently, meaning she is to spend three years in prison, while fine option is to run consecutively, meaning she must pay the sum of N1, 750, 000, as fine option.
The judge also ruled that the seized drugs are to be destroyed if there is no appeal against the judgment after the stipulated period.
