A Federal High Court in Lagos, has sentenced a 28-year-old artisan, Anas Isa, to three years’ imprisonment for peddling 2.1kg of Indian hemp.
Justice Maureen Onyetenu sentenced Isa after he had pleaded guilty to the charge of drug trafficking.
Onyetenu held that the defendant was guilty of the offense and then sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment, with effect from the day of his arrest.
Onyetenu, however, granted the convict an option to pay N300,000 fine.
Earlier, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Prosecutor, Jeremiah Aernan, told the court that the defendant committed the offense on July 21 in Agege area of Lagos.
Aernan said that the defendant was caught while he was unlawfully dealing in Indian hemp (Cannabis Sativa), weighing 2.1kg.
He reviewed the facts of the case and tendered some documents.
Newsmen report that the documents tendered by the prosecutor included a written statement by the defendant, a drug analysis form, a request for scientific aid form and the hemp.
The court admitted the documents in evidence and marked them as exhibits.
Aernan then urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant, based on his plea and the evidence before it.
According to him, the offense contravenes Section 11(c) of the NDLEA Act, CAP N30, Laws of the Federation, 2004.
The defendant, however, pleaded for mercy and promised to turn a new leaf.
