Honourable
Justice Sale Kogo Idrissa of the Federal High Court sitting in Kano on Friday,
sentenced an automobile parts dealer, Okeke Chika Victor to ten years
imprisonment over heroin smuggling.
imprisonment over heroin smuggling.
He pleaded not
guilty to a one count charge of unlawful importation of heroin filed against
him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). After five months of
intense trial, Justice Sale found him guilty and sentenced him to ten years
imprisonment.
The heroin
weighing 10.6kg and concealed inside new submersible water pumping machines
were illegally imported from Maputo in Mozambique in April 2016. NDLEA officers
at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) made the discovery
during an inward screening of an Ethiopian Airline flight. After an intense
follow-up operation the convict, Okeke Chika Victor was arrested on September
3, 2016 and charged to court.
According to
the NDLEA Kano airport commander, Ambrose Umaru, the arrest of the convict was made possible by
the tenacity of officers who successfully monitored the convict.
"After
the heroin seizure was made in April 2016, we organised a man hunt that
eventually led to the arrest of Okeke Chika Victor in September 2016. Although
he pleaded not guilty but he was unable to prove his case before the
court".
Meanwhile the
convict in his statement said that he was promised the sum of five thousand dollars.
"I was
asked to bring the heroin to Nigeria for a fee of $5,000 but my arrest had
turned the table against me. I had wanted to invest the money in automobile
parts business" he stated. Okeke hails from Anambra State.
The
Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (retd.)
expressed satisfaction with the sentence describing it as laudable.
"The
timely dispensation of justice and ten years sentence passed on the convict is
laudable. Let me assure you that the Agency will continue to push for stiffer
punishment for drug trafficking thereby making the criminal trade
unattractive" the chairman stated.
Abdallah
commended the Agency's growing capacity to detect concealed drugs adding that
notwithstanding the clever manner the heroin was concealed inside submersible
water pumping machines, the drug was detected with ease.
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