Three kingpins and 16 other offenders have been convicted and sentenced to a total of 302 years in prison for trafficking and dealing in illicit drugs. The convicts were sentenced for trafficking illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, cannabis and opioids, following their arrest and diligent prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said in a statement on Friday, that the 19 convicts top the list of 414 drug traffickers and dealers convicted by the Federal High Court in Benue, Bauchi, Edo, Lagos, Ogun, Gombe and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja between July 1 and July 31, 2024 based on charges filed against them by the anti-narcotics agency.
It would be noted that one of the three kingpins, 50-year-old Bolanle Lookman Dauda was arrested in an intelligence-led raid by operatives of a special operation unit of NDLEA at Ibiye, along Lagos-Badagry Expressway while attempting to cross the land border to deliver the consignment in Ghana on Saturday, May 25, 2024. He was subsequently arraigned before Hon. Justice Ambrose Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Lagos in charge number FHC/L/537C/2024.
In his judgment delivered on 19th July 2024, Justice Allagoa convicted and sentenced him to 21 years imprisonment or payment of an option of N30million fine. Another kingpin who was put behind bars is a 34-year-old Ikeh Stanley Ifeanyi who was arrested at the popular Idumota market in Lagos Island, where no fewe.