FOUR out of the five drug kingpins arrested in connection with the seizure of 2,139.55 kilograms of cocaine at an Ikorodu residential estate in 2022 have been convicted by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The court, presided over by Yellim Bogoro, sentenced the accused to various jail terms totalling 28 years with hard labour.
The convicts: Soji Jubril Oke, 71; Wasiu Akinade, 55; Emmanuel Arinze Chukwu, 67; and Kelvin Christopher Smith, 44, were charged in October and December 2022 with six counts in charge number FHC/L/607C/2022.
The trial of the fifth suspect, Oguntolure Sunday, arraigned along with them is still ongoing.
The charges border on conspiracy to form and operate a drug trafficking organisation (DTO); management and financing of a DTO; and importation and possession of 2,139.55 kilograms of cocaine, among others.
According to the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Thursday, December 26, the trial judge, after over two years of prosecution, handed one of the accused, Christopher Smith, a Jamaican, four years imprisonment with hard labour.
Chukwu was sentenced to 16 years, Oke to five years with hard labour, and Akinade to three years in jail with hard labour.
The judge, however, gave the convicts varying options of fine with the exception of one of them who will serve his full jail term without an option of fine.
They were also to forfeit a grey colour Toyota Tacoma SUV marked AAA-734HT registered in the name of Emmanuel Chukwu; $50,000 belonging to Chukwu; N55.9 million also belonging to Chukwu; N9. 3 million belonging to Akinade and another N3 million also belonging to Akinade.
The Agency also in another suit marked FHC/L/MISC/672/2024 and filed before Bogoro on December 9, 2024, after an initial interim forfeiture order, secured the final forfeiture of two houses linked to members of the drug cartel.
The court also ordered the final forfeiture and confiscation of some property belonging to the accused to the Federal Government.
The property includes houses in Sholebo Estate, Ikorodu and Victoria Garden City (VGC) Estate, both in Lagos state.
The ICIR reported that operatives of the NDLEA had on Sunday, September 18, 2022, raided a house located at 6 Olukuola Crescent, Solebo Estate, Ikorodu, Lagos where over 2.1 tons of cocaine were seized.
The agency said it was the largest singular cocaine seizure in the history of Nigeria’s anti-narcotic operations.
The drug kingpins, four of whom were jailed as indicated in this report, were picked from hotels and their hideouts in different parts of Lagos between the night of Sunday and Monday, September 19, 2022.
A reporter with the ICIR
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