Court Jails 3 Indian Hemp Dealers For 5 Years
Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on Tuesday, convicted and sentenced three men, Akiti Narteh, Jelili Anu, and Kunniji Damilola to five years imprisonment each, for unlawfully dealing in 559 kilograms of Indian hemp, popularly called marijuana.
The judge sentenced the convicts after she found them guilty of a two count charge of unlawful dealing in the banned weed and illegal transportation of same brought against them by the National Drug Laws Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The NDLEA had arrested the convicts with the drug on February 5, 2017, on Ikare Waterway, Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos.
When they were first arraigned on June 8, 2017, the prosecutor, Jerry Aernan, had told the court that the convicts were conveying the said banned weed in a one fibre boat named ‘My Destiny’.
Aernan had maintained that the offence committed by the convicts was contrary to, and punishable under sections 11(b) and 11(c) of the National Drug Laws Enforcement Agency Act, Cap. N30, Laws of the federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The three men had pleaded not guilty. However, the court refused to grant them bail.
But when the matter came up on September 28, 2017, the convicts changed their pleas to guilty.
The development made the court to adjourn the matter till Tuesday to enable the prosecutor to review the fact of the case.
Apart from reviewing the fact of the case, the prosecutor also tendered the 559 kilograms of the banned weed among others as exhibits, which were all admitted.
Based on the fact placed before the court, Justice Oguntoyinbo pronounced the three men guilty as charged.
While pleading for mercy for the convicts, their lawyer, Prosper Ojakovo, urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
Ojakovo told the court that his clients were sea transporters, who conveyed the banned weed for a customer who did not disclose the contents of the bags to them.
After listening to him, Justice Oguntoyinbo sentenced them to five years imprisonment on each of the counts.
The judge ordered that the convicts’ sentence start to count from the date of their arrest and to run concurrently.
