The Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced drug dealer Ariyibi Olaseinde, 49, to five years in prison on Tuesday for attempting to smuggle 11.5kg of cocaine into Saudi Arabia.
Olaseinde pleaded guilty to the two counts of conspiracy and illicit drug export brought against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, and Justice Chukwuejekwu Aneke found him guilty and jailed him.
The prosecutor, Augustine Nwagu, told the court that the convict was arrested with the drug on February 20, 2023, at the Screening Hall of Terminal 11 of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, during the outward clearance of passengers on a Qatar Airways flight to Medina, Saudi Arabia via Doha.
He told the court that the convict conspired with one Jeleel Badmus, now at large, to commit the offence.
Nwagu informed the court that the convict, during interrogation, said he was commissioned by Badmus to traffic the banned substance on the promise of being paid $1,500, and that he had been paid $300 as part of the money he was promised.
According to the prosecutor, the offence committed contravened Sections 14(b) and 11(b) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation 2004.
The convict pleaded guilty to the charges after it was read to him.
Nwagu thereafter urged the court to convict and sentence him according to the sections of the NDLEA Act he was charged with.
The convict’s lawyer, Lilian Omotunde, in her plea for leniency, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing her client.
Justice Aneke sentenced the convict to five years imprisonment.
The judge, however, ordered the convict to pay N5m in lieu of the jail term.
Justice Aneke ordered the convict to perform 150 hours of community service in addition to the fine option.
The convict’s two passports and $300 were ordered to be forfeited to the Federal government.
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