Two suspected drug barons, Chinedu Charles Eze and Basil Chidiebere Nwobodo were on Friday arraigned before a Lagos Federal High Court, for alleged conspiracy and unlawful exportation of the banned substance, methamphetamine, by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Eze, 43 and Nwobodo 35, were arraigned on the alleged offences before the court presided over by Justice Daniel Osiagor.
The prosecutor, Augustine Nwagu, while arraigning the defendants, told the court that they conspired with one Fredrick Obunwa (now at large) to illegally export 30.10 kilogram of methamphetamine onto London, United Kingdom (UK).
He told the court that the two defendants were arrested on May 16, at SAHCOL Export Shed at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, during the examination and clearing of cargo for export to London.
The prosecutor told the court that the offences committed by the two defendants contravened sections 14(b) and 11(b) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The two defendants however pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Following their not-guilty plea, the prosecutor asked the court for a trial date and also urged the court to remand them in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) till the determination of the charges.
But their lawyer, Chief Benson O. Ndakara, told the court that he is not opposed to the trial date as requested by the NDLEA lawyer.
He however told the court that he had filed the defendants’ bail applications and the same have been served on the prosecution.
In urging the court to grant the application, Ndakara told the court that his clients have been detained by the prosecution since May when they were arrested.
However, NDLEA lawyer, Nwagu, pleaded with the court to refuse the bail applications and to order an accelerated hearing of the charge.
But the presiding judge, Justice Osiagor, after listening to the submissions of parties and citing plethora of authorities, admitted the two defendants to bail in the sum of N10 million with one surety each.
The judge ordered among others that the surety should be either a property owner with the court jurisdiction or a civil servant not below Grade Level 12 in Lagos State or federal government establishment.
Justice Osiagor while adjourning the matter till October 23, for trial, ordered the remand of the two defendants at the Ikoyi centre of the NCoS, pending when they meet the bail terms.
Charges against the defendants read: “That you Eze Charles Chinedu, male, 43 years old; Nwobodo Chidiebere Basil, male, 35 years old sometime in May 2023 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired with Fredrick Obunwa (now at large) to export 30.10 kilograms of Methamphetamine, a narcotic drug similar to Cocaine, Heroin or LSD and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 14(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
“That you Eze Charles Chinedu, male, 43 years old; Nwobodo Chidiebere Basil, male,35 years old on or about the 16th day of May 2023 during the examination and clearing of cargo for export to London at SAHCOL Export Shed at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court without lawful authority exported 30.10 kilograms of Methamphetamine, a narcotic drug similar to Cocaine, Heroin or LSD and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 11(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
