Man gets two years for dealing in cannabis

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State on Wednesday sentenced a 26-year-old man, John Daniel, to a two-year prison term for possession of 14.3 kilogrammes of cannabis.

The trial judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, said Daniel was convicted based on his own admission of the crime and the evidence tendered by the prosecution.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency had arraigned the convict on one count bordering on the alleged crime.

The convict was said to have been apprehended with the contraband on September 23, 2013 at the Ghetto Area of Jass 38, Lekki, Lagos State.

He was charged for being in possession of narcotics without lawful authority contrary to Section 11(c) of the NDLEA Act, Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

According to the prosecution, the substance recovered from Daniel was later confirmed to be cannabis sativa or marijuana, a substance similar to cocaine.

At Wednesday’s proceeding, the prosecution called its witness, a Deputy Superintendent at the Narcotics section of the NDLEA, Mr. Taupyen Sunday who told the court that Daniel was assigned to him for investigations.

Sunday told the court that in the course of his investigations, he came across various substances such as a certificate of test analysis, a packing of substance form, a request for scientific aid form, a volunteered statement of the accused person, a drug analysis report and a bulk of the exhibit contained in a big brown envelope.

The prosecution counsel, Mr. F.O. Dinneys, prayed the court to admit the listed substances as exhibits. They were subsequently admitted.

Daniel who appeared in court without a legal representation maintained his earlier plea but pleaded the court to be lanient with him with a promised that he would turn a new leaf.

Buba consequently sentenced him to two years imprisonment to commence from the day of his arrest.

He said, “The court has considered the convict’s plea for mercy and the fact that the convict is remorseful; the 26-year-old convict will be given another chance in life to turn a new leaf. Accordingly the convict is hereby sentenced to a two-year term of imprisonment with effect from September 23, 2013, the day of his arrest.”

The judge ordered the NDLEA to destroy the exhibit recovered from the convict