Vincent Chukwu, a drug trafficker, after being sentenced to a five-year prison sentence by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, has broken down in tears.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) charged Mr. Chukwu with two charges of concealing 735.95g of cocaine by ingestion with the intent to export.
The defendant was detained on February 4 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja while a Qatar Airways flight was being cleared off, the prosecution, A.G. Yuanyam, informed the court. The defendant entered a guilty plea to both counts at arraignment.
Abdulwahab Ahmed, an exhibit officer with the NDLEA, was one of the witnesses the prosecution called to prove the case, and he confirmed that the defendant expelled the ingested material in front of him.
“The suspect was taken for a scan and the scan came out positive for a substance suspected to be hard drugs.
“He was detained and on about day five, he excreted 52 pellets of a substance suspected to be cocaine and after excretion, a field test was conducted and the substance was confirmed to be cocaine.
“A total of 735.95g was what he excreted. He wrote a statement after each excretion in the presence of his lawyer,” the witness said.
Justice Mohammed Umar accepted the pallets of cocaine, some cash, and the defendant’s words as proof once the witness presented them. He then requested the court to find the defendant guilty based on his guilty plea and the evidence after the exhibits were admitted. He demanded that the federal authorities seize both the money and his foreign passport.
Mr. Chukwu was later found guilty as charged by the court even though his defence’s counsel, E.U Okeryi, pleaded for leniency of mercy.
“My Lord, the convict is sober, he is 34 years old and married with a child and aged parents who depend on him. He is a first time offender and the circumstance he found himself in is precarious and demands pity and mercy”, he had said.
“He sells cloths in Balogun Market but the shop was not doing so well and he was swamped in debts thats why he fell into this when he was approached and persuaded,” he had added.
