Cape Verde woman jailed for drug trafficking

JUSTICE Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court, Lagos Monday sentenced a woman, Rosangela Homes Gonclaves, Cape Verdean citizen to six months imprisonment for importing two kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria.

 The convict, was arrested with the said banned substance by the men of National Drug Laws and Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, on July 21, 2013, with her alleged partner in crime, one Olua Uguru Christopher, who is said to be at large.

 The convict was first arraigned before the court on November 12, 2013, and on Wednesday she pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against her by the anti-drug agency.

 She however, changed her plea, upon re-arraignment.

Following the change of plea, she was re-arraigned on a two-count charge of unlawful importation of the banned substance.

 The offences according to the NDLEA’s prosecutor, Mr. Fingere O. Odinneys, are contrary and punishable to section 11(a) and 14(b) of the National Drug Laws and Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N 30, of the laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

Upon the change of plea by the convict, and presentation of the facts of the case by the prosecution, the court finds him guilty as charged.

 However, the convict counsel, Mr. Okenyi Chris, in his allucutor, urged the court to be lenient in sentencing the convict.

 He told the court that the convict had been in the NDLEA detention since when she was arrested in 2013. Consequently, the judge, Justice Saidu sentenced her to six months imprisonment.