2 drug traffickers jailed 7 years

Simon Ateba/Aviation correspondent

Two drug traffickers ,who were arrested by officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have been jailed for seven years each. 

Justice Chukwu Evoh of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, ruled that 38-year old Mbechi Obiageli Susan and 36-year old Obiora Boniface Okechukwu were found guilty for unlawful importation of narcotics.

Both pleaded guilty.

He held that the convicts have shown sufficient remorse and that the court expects them to turn a new leaf and contribute to the development of the country after completing their jail terms.

They were arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Mbechi, who held a  Nigerian international passport number A00288396 claimed that she was three months pregnant when stopped for routine search on her way from Sao-Paulo, Brazil and warned that scanning machine could harm her unborn baby.

However, when placed under observation, she excreted 51 pellets of cocaine weighing 900 grammes. She hails from Oduma village in Enugu State, southeast Nigeria.

Obiora who also arrived from Brazil, was arrested for ingesting 91 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.6kg.

Chairman NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said that he expects others to learn from their experience. “Drug trafficking kills dreams. It is expected that others outside that are contemplating drug trafficking will learn from this sentence and shun the criminal act,” Giade said.