A Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced one Egbutiegbo Aloysius to a jail term of 15 years for trafficking marijuana without lawful authority.
Aloysius, a businessman and a father of five, was convicted and sentenced by Justice Mohammed Idris.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, which arraigned Aloysius on one count of trading illegally in hard drug, told the court that the convict was caught with 19.80 kilogrammes of Cannabis Sativa, otherwise called marijuana.
The convict was said to have been apprehended on June 12, 2014, at the departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, with the illicit substance which the NDLEA said he had intended to export to China.
NDLEA charged Aloysius for contravening Section 11(a) of NDLEA Act, Cap N30, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Though he had pleaded not guilty upon his arraignment, the convict, however, elected to change his plea to guilty after he was remanded in prison because he did not meet the conditions attached to the bail given to him by the court.
Following his change of plea, the NDLEA prosecutor, Mary Eke, reviewed the facts of the case during which she tendered various exhibits and a report of the test on the illicit substance.
Before the verdict was pronounced, the defence counsel, Sunday Obunor, urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
The judge, however, said, “I only show mercy to those that take hard drugs either on health ground or otherwise, but not for those that deal in it.
“I give you 15 years, effective from the first day of your arrest.”
