Four drug kingpins: Ogbuji Christian Ifeanyi, Iloduba Augustine Chinonye, Shuaibu Nuhu Isa (aka Don), and Zidon Zurga, have been convicted and sentenced to a total of 95 years in prison by the Federal High Court in Lagos and Yola, Adamawa State over trafficking of cocaine and skunk worth over N4.6 billion following their prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, made available the judgment of the two courts to newsmen on Friday.
According to Babafemi, Ogbuji was intercepted by operatives of the NDLEA at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos State on September 18, 2024.
This was during an inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines flight passengers from Addis Ababa to Lagos for importing 817 wraps of cocaine weighing 19.40 kilograms with an estimated street value of N4.656 billion.
That was barely 16 months after the 48-year-old businessman was arrested and convicted for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine.
He was first arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on May 10, 2023 on arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa, onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951 for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.986kg.
Ogbuji was subsequently arraigned before Federal High Court 12 in Abuja, presided over by Hon. Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon in charge no: FHC/ABJ/CR/192/2023, and convicted on July 13, 2023.
He was sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of paying a fine of N3 million, which he paid and was set free.
Not done with crime, Ogbuji was again arrested at the Lagos airport with the large consignment of cocaine on September 18, 2024, after which he was arraigned before Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court, Lagos in charge number: FHC/L/845C, on January 16, 2025.
He was eventually sentenced on February 28, 2025 to five years imprisonment on count one with an option of N7 million and 10 years imprisonment on count two without an option of fine.
In the event that he fails to pay the N7 million fine, the judge ruled that the convict will serve a total of 15 years in jail consecutively.
The court ordered the forfeiture of monetary exhibits and other items found on him at the time of his arrest.
In his own case, 51-year-old Iludoba was arrested by NDLEA operatives on new year eve, December 31, 2021, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu for cocaine trafficking.
He was found to have ingested 58 wraps of the illicit drug, 48 of which he excreted on transit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while he expelled the balance of 10 in NDLEA custody after his arrest on January 1, 2022.
He was thereafter arraigned on two counts in charge number FHC/EN/CR/18/2022 before Justice Folashade Giwa Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court, Enugu.
After three years of diligent prosecution, Iludoba was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment on each count, bringing his total years in jail to 10 years, which will run concurrently from the date of his conviction on March 5, 2025.
In the case of Isa, aka Don, 55, and Zurga, 50, they were arrested by NDLEA operatives on November 25, 2024 along Numan-Yola Road with 500.800kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, concealed in a pilot Toyota Hilux vehicle marked: Lagos NT 829 AAA, and a Prado SUV with a fake Presidency number plate: 01B-266 FG.
They were later arraigned before Justice Bala Usman in charge number: FHC/YL/150/2024 and convicted on February 7, 2025 to 35 years imprisonment each on two counts, bringing the combined years in jail for both of them to 70 years or pay a fine of N25 million each.
The court also ordered the interim forfeiture of the two jeeps used in trafficking the illicit drug consignment.
Reacting to the conviction of the four men, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd). commended the trial courts, teams of officers who investigated and prosecuted the three cases at the MMIA Strategic Command in Lagos, Akanu Ibiam International Airport Special Area Command, Enugu and Adamawa State Command for their diligence and professionalism.
Marwa said: “The conviction and the forfeiture of the convicts’ instruments of crime will further strengthen the deterrent effect of our ongoing effort to totally dismantle every drug network in the country.”
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