Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday, sentenced nine Chinese nationals, including two females, to one-year imprisonment each and a fine of N1 million for economic sabotage and financial terrorism.

The defendants are Zhao Xiang Hui, Liu Hai Rong, Liu Gang, Du JI Geng Li Dong, Huang Bo, Xhiong Zhen, Lai Rui Feng and Deng Wei Qiang. The EFCC’s counsel, Nnemeka Omewa, told the court that the defendants had opted for plea-bargain arrangements, which the agency has found worthy.

The defence counsel, Folarin Damela, also confirmed the EFCC’s position and urged the court to accept the plea bargain. Consequently, the charge was read and all the defendants pleaded guilty to the same. The defendants also admitted that they freely consented to and signed the plea-bargain agreement.

Following the guilty plea of the defendants, the prosecutor, Omewa, asked the court to convict and sentence the defendants in accordance with the plea-bargain agreement.

However, in the absence of any objection to the prosecutor’s request, Justice Osiagor convicted and sentenced the defendants to one-year imprisonment each, commencing from December 10, 2024, with the payment of N1 million.

The court also ordered that upon the completion of the prison terms, the Nigerian Immigration Service shall repatriate the convicts to their country of origin.

The judge also ordered that all the items found on the convicts, including furniture, computer gadgets and laptops, should be forfeited to the Federal Government.