Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Lagos has jailed a hard drug trafficker Aria Onwuka for five years for unlawful dealing in 25. 6 kilogrammes of Ephedrine, a banned substance.
Justice Aneke sent Onwuka to prison after finding him guilty of a one-count charge of drug trafficking slammed on him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
During the trial, the prosecutor, Augustine Nwagu, told the court that the convict was arrested with the banned drug, on August 28, 2021, during the outward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight to South Africa at Gate “C” of the Departure hall of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Nwagu also told the court that the offence violated section 20(1}(a) and is punishable under Section 20(2)(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The defence counsel, Christopher Okenyi, in his allucutor, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing his client.
Okenyi, who told the court that his client was a first-time offender, who does not have any previous record of conviction, begged the court to give his client a non-custodial sentence, or the alternative, an option of a fine.
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