Courts have convicted and sentenced three kingpins and 16 other offenders to 302 years imprisonment for trafficking and dealing in illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, cannabis and opioids.

The convicts were jailed following their arrest and prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this via a statement on Friday, August 16, 2024.

The 19 convicts top the list of 414 drug traffickers and dealers convicted by the Federal High Courts in Abuja, Benue, Bauchi, Edo, Lagos, Ogun, and Gombe States between July 1 and July 31, 2024, based on charges filed against them by the anti-narcotics agency.

Babafemi stated that one of the three kingpins, 50-year-old Bolanle Lookman Dauda, was arrested in an intelligence-led raid by NDLEA operatives along Lagos-Badagry expressway in Lagos State while attempting to cross the land border to deliver the consignment in Ghana on May 25.

Babafemi said 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilograms were found on the convict.

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He noted that a swift follow-up operation in his residence at Petedo Road in the Agbara area of Ogun State led to the recovery of an additional eight blocks of the same drug weighing 10kg, bringing the total weight of the cocaine seized from him to 57.5 kilograms.

The NDLEA spokesperson disclosed that Dauda was subsequently arraigned before Justice Ambrose Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

He said Justice Allagoa, in a judgement delivered on July 19, convicted and sentenced Dauda to 21 years imprisonment with a fine option of N30 million.

Babafemi stated that another convicted kingpin, 34-year-old Ikeh Stanley Ifeanyi, was arrested at the popular Idumota market in Lagos Island, where no fewer than 1,100 ampoules of lethal synthetic opioid, fentanyl, weighing 6.480kg were recovered from him.

He noted that the dangerous opioid is 100 times more potent than heroin and currently responsible for over 70 per cent of overdose deaths as well as a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the United States.

According to him, Ifeanyi was later arraigned before Justice Kehinde Ogundare of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

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Delivering judgement on July 4, the judge convicted Ifeanyi on the two counts charge and sentenced him to 14 years in jail or an option of N2 million fine.

The NDLEA spokesman added that another convict, Christian Anyanwu, was arrested on November 26, 2022, with 1.4 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed inside custard tins packed among cosmetics and foodstuffs going to Brazil via Doha on a Qatar Airways flight.

Babafemi disclosed that Anyanwu was subsequently docked before Justice Yellin Bogoro of the Federal High Court in Lagos and convicted on July 12, 2024.

He noted that Justice Bogoro sentenced Anyanwu to 16 years in jail, four of which were mandatory imprisonment without an option of fine.

Babafemi listed others who bagged mandatory imprisonment in July for drug trafficking to include Moses Yakubu sentenced to 25 years in prison on July 22 by Justice Rita Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court in Abuja; and Oluosun Okikiola who was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail on July 17 by Justice A. A Okeke of the Federal High Court in Abeokuta, the Ogun State.

The NDLEA spokesperson added that Justice R.J Abubakar of the Federal High Court in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, convicted and sentenced Chanchan Terpase to seven years in prison on July 9, while Justice C.O. Obiozor of the Federal High Court in Benin, the Edo State capital, convicted and sentenced Beauty Gani to 30 years in prison with a fine option of N8 million on July 3.

While commending the anti-narcotic officers involved in the arrest and prosecution of the cases as well as the courts for speedy adjudication, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) said the sentencing of the convicts would further give bite to the drug supply reduction efforts of the agency.

The Star