A Pakistani has been Jailed 10 Years for Importing Cocaine to Nigeria

A Pakistani, Bukhari Syed Waseem Ahmed was on Tuesday sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour by a Federal High Court in Lagos.

Ahmed, 35, was jailed after being found guilty of importing 13 kilograms of Heroines into Nigeria.



He was arrested by the men of National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on February 10, 2012, at the Murtala International Airport, Lagos, on his arrival from Pakistan.

He was said to have conspired with one Benjamin Okereke and Chukwudi Okereke, both now at large, to import the banned substance into the country.

He was arraigned before Justice John Tsoho on an amended two-count charge of conspiracy and unlawful importation of narcotics.

The offences according to the prosecutor, Augustine Nwagu, an Assistant Director of Prosecution, NDLEA, contravened Section 14 (b) and11 (a) of the NDLEA Act, Cap. 30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

During the trial, the prosecution had informed the court that the convict was arrested on February 10, 2012, during inward clearance of Qatar Airline flight from Pakistan, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, with 13 kilograms of heroin without lawful authority.

Lawyer to the convict, Victor Abana, had during the plea for leniency and urged the court to temper justice with mercy, as the convict was a foreigner, a first time offender, and father of three.

He said if not given a reformatory sentence, the convict's three children would suffer greatly.

Abana also informed the court that since the convict's arrest on February 10, 2012, he had since been in the prisons custody, and abandoned by the people he was doing business with and that while in the custody, the convict had converted to Christianity, and he is now a worker in the prisons' ministry.

He therefore pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy and give the convict a reformatory sentence.

However, Justice Tsoho held that the convict had in his confessional statement, stated that he was arrested on his third trip to Nigeria on the illicit business.

This, the judge said, if he had not been arrested, he will still continue in the business, which is at the detriment of Nigerians and the sovereignty of the country.

Consequently, the judge sentenced the Pakistani to 10 years imprisonment, and ordered that the seized drug be destroyed if no appeal is filed against the judgment within 90 days.

The judge, however, ordered that the sentence should start to run from the day of Ahmed's first arrest. Source: