Agent, 55, Jailed 5 Years For Attempting To Export Banned Hard Drugs To Dubai

Posted on March 8, 2023

MICHAEL AKINOLA

A 55-year-old, freight forward agent, Sharafadeen Oyeyemi, may spend the next five years in prison over attempt to export several banned drug substances worth millions of Naira from the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos to Dubai, UAE.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that it was the judgment of Justice Chukwuejekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Lagos, who convicted Oyeyemi after he pleaded guilty to a three-count charge of unlawful export of the banned substances brought against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The prosecutor, Augustine Nwagu, told the Court that the convict was arrested on 9th January, 2023, with the banned substances, which he intended to export to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), at Export Shed at Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

The prosecutor, Nwagu listed 900 grammes of Tramadol 225mg; 100 grammes of Rohypnol, and grammes of Ecstasy, all Psychotropic substances similar to Heroin and Cocaine, which the convict was arrested with.

He said the offence was contrary to Section 20(1)(a) and punishable under Section 20(2)(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The defendant did not deny the charges and based on guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the Court to convict and sentence him under Section 247 of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

Nwagu also urged the Court to order his agency to destroy the seized drugs at the expiration of the time stipulated for the appeal of the judgment.

However, the defence Counsel, Uche Okoronkwo, in his plea for mercy, urged the Court to temper justice with mercy, asking the Court to consider his client’s timely guilty plea.

Justice Aneke, in his judgment, sentenced the convict to five years imprisonment in each of the counts which will run concurrently.

The judge, however, gave him an option of N5 million instead of the jail terms while he also ordered him to perform a 100-day community service.