THE FEDERAL High Court, Lagos, has convicted and jailed a nursing mother, Fatimah Adeoye, to six years imprisonment for drug trafficking.

Justice Tijani Ringim sentenced Adeoye after she pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of unlawful export of 1.10 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa, also known as marijuana, and 17 grammes of rohypnol, a psychotropic substance, brought against her by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The NDLEA counsel, Abu Ibrahim, told the court that the convict was arrested with the prohibited drugs on November 18, 2022 at the Gate ‘C’ of the departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, during an outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopia Airline flight.

She had attempted to export the drug to Oman.

The ICIR reports that the NDLEA also arrested a businesswoman, Okefun Darlington Chisom, over her links with two Pakistanis, who were arrested at the Lagos airport with eight kilogrammes  of cocaine.

The prosecution counsel told the court that Adeoye’s offence contravened Section 11(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The convict admitted to committing the offence and pleaded guilty to the two counts.

The prosecutor urged the court to convict and sentence her in accordance with the NDLEA law she was charged with.

After listening to both parties and citing a plethora of decided cases, the judge sentenced Adeoye to three years jail term in each of the counts.

The judge held that the jail term would run consecutively, but gave the convict an option of a fine of N500,000 on count one only.

The judge also ordered that the banned substances be confiscated from the convict and destroyed by the NDLEA after the appeal period has elapsed.