Airport Worker Jailed For Planting Hard Drugs In Passenger’s Bag At MMA

MICHAEL AKINOLA 

An airport worker, Ajuzieogu MacElvis Ugochukwu, who attempted to plant prohibited hard drugs into Ghana-bound passenger’s luggage at the Muritala Mohammed Airport in Lagos State has been jailed. 

P.M.EXPRESS reports that Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of a Lagos Federal High Court, has convicted Ugochukwu to prison term alongside an employee of Pathfinder International Ltd, an aviation security service company, Okosun Paul Punitt, 31, who was the owner of the illegal substance.

Both Ugochukwu and Okosun were sentenced to a year imprisonment on the offences of conspiracy and unlawful export of the said drug made against them by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

It would be recalled that a video of the face-off between the innocent passenger and Ugochukwu went viral on 16th January, 2024, after the vigilant passenger suspected the consignment contained illicit substances.

The two convicts were charged to Court on the charges of conspiracy and unlawful export of 17 grammes of Tramadol 225 mg, a psychotropic substance similar to Heroin.

The prosecutor, Mr. Augustine Nwagu, had told the Court that the two convicts committed the offences on 14th January, 2024, at the departure hall of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos
He told the court that the convicts’ acts contravened Sections 14(b) and 20(1)(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. And punishable 20(2)(a) of the same Act.
The two convicts pleaded guilty to the charges.

Consequently, the prosecutor reviewed the facts of the charges, and urged the Court to sentence them in accordance to section 274(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

The prosecutor also pleaded with the Court to release the prohibited drug to his agency for destruction if there is no appeal against the judgment after the stipulated period.

The prosecutor also urged the Court to confiscate the second convict’s international passport to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

But the convicts’ lawyer, I. O. Okon, pleaded with the Court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing his clients, whom he said are first time convicts, who did not have previous conviction record.
The lawyer, also appealed to the Court to consider fine option in lieu of the custodian sentence.

Justice Lewis-Allagoa, in his judgment, sentenced each of the convicts to a year in each of the counts. The judge, however ordered each of the defendants to pay the sum of N300, 000. 00, in lieu of the jail-term. While also ordered that the International Passport be released to the second convict, after serving the jail-term or paying the fine option.