By Yetunde Ayobami Ojo
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, remanded a four-man hard drug syndicate in National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) custody over an allegation of unlawful importation of banned substances.
Justice Daniel Osiagor made the order after the four men were arraigned for allegedly dealing IN hard drugs.
The suspects, who are in their 40s, are
Ogunmeru Oluwafemi Oluwafunsho, Adewale Yusuf Adegbeti, Adeleke Abdulrazaq and 22-year-old Dairo Quam.
They were remanded in NDLEA office pending perfection of their bail. During the proceeding, the prosecuting counsel, Augustine Nwagu, told the court that the suspects were arrested on March 10, 2023, at Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) import shed of Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, during inward clearance of Cargo on Ethiopian Airline flight from Johannesburg, South Africa via Addis Ababa.
The prosecutor said that all the defendants conspired among themselves to illegally and unlawfully export to the country 11.90 kilogrammes of heroin and 500 grammes of Cannabis sativa.
He said that the defendants committed the offences with one Zainab Morenikeji Agbaje who he said is on the run.
According to the prosecutor, their offence contravened sections 14(b) and 11(a)of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and Nwagu prayed for a trial date and asked the court to remand them in prison till the determination of the charge against them.
Responding to his submission, the defendants’ lawyers, Chief Benson Ndakara and Uche Okoronkwo, urged the court to grant the defendant bail in the most liberal terms, as they have credible sureties that can stand for them.
Ndakara told the court that his clients, Oluwafunsho and Adegbeti, are suffering from ailments that cannot be handled by the correctional services.
However, the prosecutor opposed the application that the defendant be remanded at his agency’s custody, on the ground that once a plea had been taken, the best place to remand the defendant is a correctional facility.
In his ruling, Justice Osiagor granted them bail in the sum of N5 million with one surety each.
He also ordered that the surety must be a Grade Level 14 Officer and above and that both the defendants and their sureties must submit three passport photographs to the court’s registrars.
The judge, however, remanded the defendants in the NDLEA custody till June 20 to perfect the bail terms, after which they will be transferred to correctional facility and fixed November 1, 2023, for trial.
Source: The Guardian