A Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos State, has sentenced a 23-year-old deaf and dumb man, Abbas Ahmed to five years imprisonment for selling Indian hemp.
A statement signed by the spokesperson for the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr Ofoyeju Mitchell, said that Ahmed was arrested by the police on February 5, 2014.
He was picked up along Agege motor park road, Lagos while dealing in cannabis, a narcotic drug similar to cocaine contrary to and punishable under Section 11(c) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2001.
After a protracted trial which led to engagement of the services of an interpreter by the court to communicate with him, Abbas recently pleaded guilty as charged, and the prosecuting counsel, Barrister Jeremiah Aernan, asked to court to apply the punishment prescribed by the law.
Meanwhile, a 22-year-old security guard, Adebowale Michael was also jailed for five years for dealing in cocaine.
Michael was arrested with four pinches of cocaine weighing 0.7 grams at Oniru Estate, Lekki Ajah Lagos by patriotic youths in February 2017.
The convict was first handed over to the police and later transferred to the NDLEA where he was charged to court for unlawful dealing in cocaine contrary to and punishable under the NDLEA Act.
Both convicts pleaded with court to temper justice with mercy, considering their ages and for being first time offenders.
The presiding judge, Justice Rilwan Aikawa, in his ruling, said cocaine trafficking was an international crime that had smeared the reputation of the country and must be seriously dealt with. He therefore sentenced each convict to five years in jail.
The NDLEA Chairman, retired Col Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah, commended the youths that arrested Adebowale, and urged of the public not to fold their hands while drug traffickers were making the society unsafe and insecure.
