Court remands NDLEA offiical for drug trafficking

Court remands NDLEA offiical for drug trafficking

A Justice of Federal High Court sitting at Ikoyi, Mr. C. J. Aneke, on Wednesday ordered that an official of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Ibidayin Godwin, and four others, Taiwo Adetoye, Taiwo Ososanya, Fatai Akera and Alhaji Yusuf Bankole, be remanded in prison pending the perfection of their bail conditions.

The agency arraigned the defendants for conspiring with a drug baron, identified simply as Ossy to export three kilogrammes of methamphetamine.

Ossy, however, is still at large.

The defendants were charged on five counts bordering on conspiracy, but they pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The charges read in part, “That you, Taiwo Adetoye, Fatai Akera and Ibidayin Godwin, conspired among yourselves with one Ossy, a drug baron now at large, to export three kilogrammes of methamphetamine; that you Taiwo Adetoye, Fatai Akera and Ibidayin Godwin exported three kilogrammes of meth without lawful authority.

“That you Taiwo Adetoye, Taiwo Ososanya and Yusuf Bankole, conspired to deal in and sell three kilogrammes of meth; that you Yusuf Bankole allowed your premises and office at the NAHCO shed to be used to store a parcel knowing that same contained three kilogrammes of meth.”

The offences were said to be contrary to and punishable under sections 11b, 11c, 12 and 14b of the NDLEA Act.

The defence counsel, Benson Ndakara, prayed the court that his clients be granted bail – a request the Director of Public Prosecutions, Joseph Sunday, represented by Ichapa Oigoga, contested.

Aneke, however, granted the accused bail in the sum of N5m each with a surety each in like sum.

One of the sureties must be a public servant not below grade 12 in the federal service; the sureties must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court or tender evidence of land property. They must produce three years evidence of tax payment to be verified by the agency. All the prerequisites for bail must be presented by the sureties within 48 hours.

The NDLEA Chairman, Mr. Ahmadu Giade, said the defendants should be brought to justice to serve as deterrent to other drug dealers, adding that the agency would be steadfast in its efforts at eradicating drug trafficking.