The lengthy arms of the regulation have caught up with two merchants from the favored Alaba-Rago Market in Lagos as they had been sentenced to 12 months in jail for drug trafficking by the Federal Excessive Courtroom within the state.
Abubakar Sadiq and Isah Ibrahim had been jailed by the holiday decide, Justice Dehinde Dipeolu, after pleading responsible to a two-count cost of conspiracy and illegal dealing in 11 kilograms of Hashish Sativa, generally often called marijuana.
The convicts had been arraigned earlier than the court docket by operatives of the Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company (NDLEA).
The prosecutor, Abdullahi Buhari, had earlier informed the court docket that the convicts had been arrested on July 3 on the Alaba-Rago Market, positioned alongside the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, whereas promoting the unlawful substance weighing 11 kilograms.
Buhari had additionally claimed that Sadiq confronted two prices bordering on conspiracy and illegal dealing within the banned substance, whereas Ibrahim was charged solely with conspiracy.
He additional acknowledged that Sadiq violated Sections 14(b) and 11(c) of the Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company Act, Cap. N30, Legal guidelines of the Federation 2004, whereas Ibrahim’s offence was a violation of Part 11(c) of the identical Act.
Primarily based on their responsible pleas, the prosecutor offered the information of the case, tendered proof, and urged the court docket to convict and sentence them in accordance with the regulation underneath which they had been charged.
Nonetheless, the defence lawyer, Evans Njoku, made an impassioned plea for leniency, arguing that his shoppers had been first-time offenders with no earlier convictions.
Njoku additionally identified that his shoppers didn’t waste the court docket’s time and readily accepted duty for his or her actions.
He, due to this fact, urged the court docket to think about non-custodial sentences or fines as a substitute of a jail time period.
After contemplating the lawyer’s submission and confirming with the prosecutor that the merchants had been first-time offenders, Justice Dipeolu sentenced them to 6 months in jail on every rely.
The decide additionally ordered the primary convict, Sadiq, to pay a complete of N1.1 million, whereas the second convict, Isah Ibrahim, was ordered to pay a advantageous of N500,000 as an alternative choice to imprisonment.
