Man Bags 4 Years Jail Term For Hawking Indian Hemp
Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced 33 years old man, Idris Jimoh to four years imprisonment for hawking 1.7 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa, popularly called India hemp.
The court handed down the verdict after he found him guilty of a one count charge of unlawful dealing in the banned weed brought against him by the National Drug Laws Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The convict according to the NDLEA was arrested by its operatives on November 18, 2018, at Ijesha under-bridge, along Oshodi-Isolo expressway in Lagos, where he was hawking the drug.
While arraigning the convict, the prosecutor, Jeremiah Aernan had told the court that the convict was once arrested by the agency on for the same allegation but he was released after he was counseled on the bad effects of dealing in illicit trade and after he promised not to engage in the act.
Aernan told the court that the re-arrest of the defendant, showed that he failed to heed to the counseling given to him.
The prosecutor told the court that the offence committed by the defendant contravened 11(c) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, capital N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
He therefore urged the court to convict and sentenced the defendant accordingly.
However, Mrs. Helen Ibeji, lawyer to the defendant, pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy in sentencing the convict.
She said that the submission made by the prosecutor that her client was once arrested for the same offence was unknown to the court.
In his judgment, Justice Aikawa held, “I have listened to the plea for mercy made by the convict’s counsel, I have also listened to the facts reviewed by the prosecutor, the defendant is hereby sentence to four years imprisonment”.
The charge against the convict reads: ” that you Idris Iimoh, male, adult, 32 years old on or about the 8th day of November, 2018 at Ijesha under-Bridge, Lagos State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court without lawful authority engaged in the sale of 1.7kg of cannabis sativa, a narcotic drug similar to Cocaine, Heroin and LSD and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 11(c) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, capital N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004″.
