Cocaine dealer bags three years

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday sentenced a 55-year-old man, Francis Charles Okafor, to three years imprisonment for illegally dealing in cocaine.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo convicted Okafor after he changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on a one-count charge of illegal possession of the prohibited narcotics.

Justice Oweibo said: “I have considered the evidence before me, the plea of the convict for mercy, the promise to never go into crime again and the fact that that there was no record of previous conviction.

“I hereby sentence the convict to three years imprisonment beginning from when his bail was revoked in 2017”.

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Earlier, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) prosecutor, Mr Adekunle Adebajo summarised the facts of the case.

Adebajo said Okafor, sometime in April 2013 attempted to export 300 grammes of cocaine, a narcotic drug without lawful authority.

The prosecutor tendered Okafor’s statement, request for scientific aid form, reports of drug analysis, transparent evidence pouch containing a remnant of the drug and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) passport.