Two drug kingpins, Uwaezuoke Christian and Agbo Prince, have received life sentences from the Federal High Court in Abuja for their extensive involvement in exporting cocaine across continents.
Femi Babafemi, the Director of Media and Advocacy at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
Uwaezuoke was initially apprehended in 2022 for swallowing cocaine wraps and was later apprehended again while attempting to smuggle drugs to India. Meanwhile, Agbo was detained at the Abuja airport, Nigeria for trying to export cocaine to Hong Kong.
According to Babafemi, Uwaezuoke’s troubles began in March 2022 when NDLEA operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, discovered that he had ingested 100 large wraps of cocaine weighing 2.243 kilograms.
Despite being granted bail after pleading not guilty, he fled, prompting the court to revoke his bail and issue an arrest warrant. He was arrested again in August 2023 for attempting to export 1.822 kilograms of cocaine to India under a different identity at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos.
After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to seven years in prison or a fine of ₦1,500,000.00, which he paid before being transferred to Abuja to face another importation case. Despite his guilty plea, the court, considering his lack of remorse and previous offenses, sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Agbo Chidike Prince, aged 42, was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, in October 2023 for ingesting 49 wraps of cocaine weighing 998.73 grams.
Upon pleading guilty, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on April 15, 2024, by Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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