The Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced a 49-year-old drug trafficker, Ariyibi Olaseinde, to five years imprisonment for attempting to illegally export 11.5kg of cocaine to Saudi Arabia.
The convict was dragged before Justice Chukwuejekwu Aneke on two counts of conspiracy and illegal export of drugs filed against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
Olaseinde pleaded guilty to the charges when it was read to 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.
According to Nwagu, the convict and one other, identified as Jeleel Badmus, who is now at large, committed the offence together.
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Olaseinde confessed to the police during interrogation that 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.
The offence committed contravened Sections 14(b) and 11(b) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation 2004.
Thereafter, the prosecutor asked 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.