Three kingpins and 16 others have been convicted and sentenced to a total of 302 years in prison for trafficking and dealing in illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, cannabis and opioids.
The trial and conviction followed their arrest and diligent prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, who confirmed the development in a statement on Friday, said the 19 convicts top the list of 414 drug traffickers and dealers convicted by the Federal High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Benue, Bauchi, Edo, Lagos, Ogun, and Gombe States between July 1 and 31, 2024 based on charges filed against them by the anti-narcotics agency.
One of the three kingpins, 50-year-old Bolanle Lookman Dauda, was arrested in an intelligence-led raid by operatives of a special operation unit in the NDLEA at Ibiye, along Lagos-Badagry Expressway while attempting to cross the land border to deliver the consignment in Ghana on May 25, 2024.
At the point of his arrest, 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilograms were found on Dauda.
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A swift follow up operation in his residence at Plot 24/25, OPIC extension, Petedo Road, Agbara, Ogun State led to the recovery of additional eight blocks of the same drug weighing 10kg, bringing the total weight of the cocaine seized from him to 57.5 kilograms.
He was subsequently arraigned before Hon. Justice Ambrose Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Lagos in charge number: FHC/L/537C/2024.
In his judgment delivered on July 19, 2024, Justice Allagoa convicted and sentenced him to 21 years imprisonment or payment of an option of N30 million fine.
Another kingpin who was put behind bars is 34-year-old Ikeh Stanley Ifeanyi, arrested at the popular Idumota Market on Lagos Island, Lagos State, where no fewer than 1,100 ampoules of lethal synthetic opioid, fentanyl, weighing 6.480kg were recovered from him.
The dangerous opioid is 100 times more potent than heroin and currently responsible for over 70 percent overdose deaths as well as a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the United States of America.
Ifeanyi was arraigned before Justice Kehinde Ogundare of the Federal High Court, Lagos in charge number: FHC/L/433C/2024.
Delivering his judgment on July 4, 2024, the trial judge convicted Ifeanyi on the two counts charge and sentenced him to 14 years in jail or an option of N2 million fine.
In his own case, 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.
He was subsequently docked before Justice Yellin Bogoro of the Federal High Court Lagos, and convicted on July 12 2024.
In his ruling, the trial judge sentenced Anyanwu to 16 years in jail, four of which is mandatory imprisonment without an option of fine.
Others who bagged mandatory imprisonment in July for drug trafficking included: Moses Yakubu, sentenced to 25 years in prison on July 22, 2024 by Justice Rita Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court, Abuja; 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, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
In the same vein, Justice R. J. Abubakar of the Federal High Court, Makurdi, Benue State convicted and sentenced Chanchan Terpase to seven years in prison on July 9, while Justice C. O. Obiozor of the Federal High Court, Benin, Edo State convicted and sentenced Beauty Gani to 30 years in prison or payment of an option of N8 million fine on July 3, 2024.
While commending the officers and men of the various commands involved in the arrest of the convicts and prosecution of the cases as well as the judiciary for speedy adjudication, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), said the sentencing will further give bite to the drug supply reduction efforts of the Agency.
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