A Nigerian returnee from Brazil, Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu, has been convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment for smuggling cocaine weighing 145 grames into the Nigeria.
Ukachukwu was convicted and sentenced for the crime by Justice Musa Kakaki of a Federal High Court, Lagos, last Friday.
The prosecutor, Barrister Abu Ibrahim, who was represented by Barrister Buhari Abdullahi, told the court that the convict was arrested with the drug by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on September 19, 2025, at Boarding Gate of E-Arrival Hall, Terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed international Airport ikeja-Lagos, the while returning from Brazil.
He told the court that convict was arrested during the clearance of passages aboard Ethiopian Airline Flight Number ET901 from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The prosecutor told the court the the convict’s action contravened section 11 (a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and punishable under same section.
Ikechukwu had pleaded guilty to the one count charge made against him.
Following his guilty plea, the prosecutor reviewed the facts of the charge, tendered all the exhibits which include bulk of the drug and his international passport.
Counsel to the convict, Barrister Kate Igbo, in her allocutor, pleaded with the court to consider the early plea of her client as sign of remorse and urged the court to give her client a second chance, by awarding a non-custodian sentence or an option of fine.
But Justice Kakaki in his judgment while considered the leniency plea of the counsel, however held that that with ‘the havock done by the prevalence of the drug usage should also be considered.
Consequently, Justice Kakaki sentenced the convict to two years imprisonment, while also ordered that his international passport be forfeited to federal government for cancellation by the Nigerian Immigration Services.
The Charge against the convict reads: “That you Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu Male, Adult on or about the 19th September 2025 during the inward clearance of passengers aboard Ethiopian Airline Flight Number ET901 from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the Boarding Gate of E-Arrival Hall, Terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed international Airport ikeja-Lagos, without lawful authority imported 145 grams Cocaine, a Narcotic Drug and you thereby committed an act which is an offence contrary to and punishable under section 11 (a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
