India-bound dr¥g trafficker who excr3t3d 889 grams of ill#cit dr¥gs bags 25 years imprisonment

India-bound dr¥g trafficker who excr3t3d 889 grams of ill#cit dr¥gs bags 25 years imprisonment

A Delhi, India-bound passenger identified as Freeman Charles Ogbonna, has been sentenced to twenty-five (25) years imprisonment by a Federal High Court three months after he vomited and excreted eighty (80) wraps of coc@ine following his arrest by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) , at the screening point of terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja, Lagos.

The agency’s Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi revealed this in a signed statement on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.

Ogbonna was arrested on Sunday 31st March while attempting to board his flight to Delhi, India via Doha on Qatar Airways, with a Liberian international passport, bearing the name: Carr Bismark. He was taken for body scan, which tested positive for ingestion of ill#cit dr¥gs.

Preliminary checks revealed his real identity as Freeman Charles Ogbonna and was subsequently placed under observation in NDLEA custody where he began to show signs of discomfort. 
He had been ch@ked by the volume of ill#cit dr¥gs in his stomach and another substance taken to hold back excretion, the suspect soon began to retch before starting to vomit and excrete wraps of coc@ine he ingested almost simultaneously.

Ogbonna who claimed he was recruited into dr¥g trafficking by one of his relatives eventually passed out a total of 80 wraps of coc@ine weighing 889 grams through his mouth and anus over a period of four days. The great risk that almost took his life notwithstanding, Ogbonna said he was given the dr¥gs to swallow at a hotel in Ipodo area of Ikeja with a promise to reward him with N300,000 cash if he successfully delivers the consignment in India.

He was subsequently arraigned before Justice Dipeolu Deinde Isaac of the Federal High Court, Lagos in charge number FHCL/378/2024 for committing an offence contrary to section 20(1)(b) and punishable under section 20(2)(a) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 LFN 2004. Delivering his judgement on the case on Monday 1st July 2024, Justice Dipeolu sentenced Ogbonna to 25 years in prison without an option of fine.