Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced a 26-year-old woman, Yetunde Sulaimon, to five years imprisonment for trafficking in cannabis Sativa, a prohibited weed.
The convict, who claimed to be a law graduate from one of the universities in Benin Republic, was sent to jail by after she pleaded guilty to a four-count charge of conspiracy and for unlawfully exporting 1.10 kilogrammes of Cannabis Sativa.
The prosecutor, Abu Ibrahim, informed the judge that the convict was arrested on July 18, 2022, at the Export Shed of National Handling Company Limited (NAHCO), a Customs Area/Point of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, when she attempted to export the banned weed o.
Abu also claimed that the convict, who resides at 28, Fehintola Giwa Street, Aguda, Surulere, Lagos, procured one Benjamin Joel, to commit the illegal act.
The lawyer told the court that the offences contravened Sections 21 (2)(d) and 11 (b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and punishable under 11 (b) of the same Act.
Based on her guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to convict and sentence her by the sections of the law under which she was charged.
But the defence counsel, Benson Ndakara, pleaded with the court to be lenient with his client and consider the fact that the convict was a first-time offender, who had become remorseful of her action and promised never to engage in such an act in the future.
Justice Osiagor after listening to the prosecutor and the convict’s lawyer sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment.
He, however, gave the convict an option of a N100,000 fine instead of the jail term, while he ordered that all the exhibits recovered from the convict and tendered by the prosecution be destroyed if there was no appeal against the judgment within the stipulated period by the law.
