Illicit Drugs: Nine Ghanaians To Spend 72 Years In Jail

Nine Ghanaians have been sentenced to an individual term of eight years in jail over a failed attempt to smuggle 10,843.95 kilograms of Cannabis into Nigeria.

The foreigners were convicted in the Lagos Federal High Court on Friday after a ruling by Justice Akintayo Aluko.

The convicts were initially arrested by the operatives of the Civil Defence Corps and transferred to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for further investigation and prosecution.

After the investigations, they were arraigned in charge number FHC/L/292C/2021.

Delivering his ruling, Justice Aluko convicted the Ghanaians of conspiracy, dealing in Cannabis and sentenced each to eight years in prison.

The convicts include Victor Wuddah; Freeman Gazul; Adotete Joseph; Sottie Moses; Sottie Stephen; Christian Tette; Kanu Okonipa; Daniel Koyepti; and Kanu Natte.

Also, on Saturday, operatives of the NDLEA stormed a village known as Chukuku, which is about 10 kilometres from Gwagwalada in Abuja, where they raided a large cannabis warehouse.

A total of 510 jumbo bags of the illicit substance weighing 5,640kgs were recovered from the store, and a nursing mother in charge, Sa’adatu Abdullahi, 35, was arrested.

Similarly, operatives had intercepted 48kgs of cannabis in Buni Yadi, Yobe State after a raid where they recovered 56 blocks (31kgs) from two suspects: Mohammed Mamuda and a married pregnant woman, Hauwa Haruna.

Meanwhile, a 200-level student of Mass Communication at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Mercy Nyong, 30, was on Wednesday arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos.

Nyong was arrested for attempting to export 300grams of tramadol 225mg concealed in incense products en route to Dubai, UAE.

According to a statement signed by the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, the agency arrested 28 persons in the last week and at least 9,437.6 kilograms of Cannabis and 138,053 tablets of pharmaceutical opioids.