* Pix source: Peplnews.com
A Federal High Court, Lagos today, convicted two Brazilians, Lima Pereira Diego and Dias DOS Santos Marcia Cristina, for bringing into Nigeria 23.895 kilogrammes of Cocaine.
The court presided over by Justice Cecilia Mojisola Olatoregun, convicted the two Brazilians after they had pleaded guilty to the charges leveled against them by the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The convicts were earlier arraigned before the court on April 26, on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy and unlawful importation of the said narcotic.
They were however declined to take their plea, on the ground that they do not have confidence in the interpreter, one Mr. Adeniran O, provided by their country’s diplomatic service.
Upon the objection raised against the interpreter and refusal to take their plea, the court had adjourned till today, for rearraignment and plea taken.
At the resumed hearing of the matter today, the Prosecutor, Mr. Abu Ibrahim, informed the court of the agency’s decision to withdraw the charge of conspiracy against the Brazilians. Consequently, they were arraigned on charge of unlawful importation of the said prohibited drug.
The offences according to the prosecutor, Mr. Ibrahim, are contrary to and punishable under section11(a) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The charge which the duo pleaded guilty to.
Following their guilty plea, the court ordered the prosecution to review the fact of the case.
In reviewing the fact of the case, the prosecutor, Mr. Ibrahim, informed the court that a Brazilian, Lima Pereira Diego, and and his female conterpart, Marcia Cristina, were arrested by the NDLEA Operatives at the arrival Hall of Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on April 18, 2017, during an inward clearance of passengers of an Emirates Airlines flight from their country, Brazil, with 23.895 kilogrammes of cocaine.
Abu also told the court that, while Pereira Erick Diego, was alleged to have imported 14.495 kilogrammes of Cocaine, Marcia Cristina was said to have imported 9.4 kilogrammes of the same drug.
The prosecutor also tendered the seized drugs, the convicts international passport, some foreign currencies, their confessional statements, reports of the test on the drugs, which were admitted by the court as exhibits.
After given the fact of the case, the prosecutor urged the court to convict them as charged.
Before the judge asked the convicts if they still want to plea guilty to the charge and the two Brazilians insisted that they are guilty of the charge. Consequently, the Judge pronounced them guilty as charged.
However, the court was handicapped in sentencing them, as their lawyer, Mr. Niyi Onifade, pleaded with the court for an adjournment, so that he can study the case file an know how to plea for their allocutor.
Following the pleading of the convicts’ lawyer, the court adjourned till July 5, to pronounce sentence of the convicts.
The judge also ordered that the convicts be remanded in Kirikiri Prison pending the day.
