2 drug kingpins bag life imprisonment for cocaine trafficking

Two notorious drug kingpins, Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian and Agbo Chidike Prince, have been sentenced to life imprisonment for cocaine trafficking.

The drug kingpins, notorious for exporting cocaine across continents, were sentenced to jail following their arrest and diligent prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

For 43-year-old businessman Uwaezuoke, his journey to a lifetime in jail began when he was first arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after he was found to have ingested 100 big wraps of cocaine weighing 2.243 kilograms on March 19, 2022.

According to a statement issued by the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, April 28, 2024, Uwaezuoke was subsequently arraigned at the Federal High Court in Abuja and was granted bail on certain conditions after he pleaded not guilty.

He thereafter absconded, leading the court to revoke his bail and issue an arrest warrant against him.

Uwaezuoke was again arrested by NDLEA operatives on August 1, 2023, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State, while attempting to export 1.822 kilograms of cocaine to India through ingestion using a different passport and under a different name, Ilonzeh Kingsley Onyebuchi.

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He was again arraigned before Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.

He pleaded guilty to the two counts charge and was convicted and sentenced on October 18, 2023, to seven years of imprisonment or a fine of N1.5 million.

Uwaezuoke paid the fine and was transferred to Abuja to face the importation case pending against him.

He was re-arraigned on March 20, 2024, at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2022 before Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik, where he pleaded guilty again.

Despite his plea, the court, noting his lack of remorse, the seriousness of drug-related offences, and the fact that he is a repeated offender convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

In the case of 42-year-old Prince, he was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja during the outward clearance of an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Hong Kong on October 21, 2023, for ingesting 49 wraps of cocaine weighing 998.73grams.

Upon his arraignment before Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the defendant pleaded guilty to the one count charge, prompting the prosecution to present evidence and review the facts of the case.

Despite the plea of allocutus by the defendant’s counsel, the court, noting the nature of the case and the commercial quantity of the drug, emphasised the seriousness of drug-related offences, convicted and sentenced Prince to life imprisonment on April 15, 2024.

The Star