India-Bound Drug Trafficker Gets 25 Years Jail Term

Drug wraps that were vomited and excreted.

A federal high court in Lagos has sentenced Freeman Charles Ogbonna to 25 years in prison for drug trafficking.

Ogbonna was sentenced three months after being arrested by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) agents at the screening point of Murtala Muhammed International Airport’s terminal 2 in Lagos.

He was arrested on Sunday, March 31st, while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Delhi, India via Doha, with a Liberian international passport bearing the name Carr Bismark. He was taken for a body scan, and the results showed that he had consumed illegal drugs.

Preliminary checks revealed his true identity as Freeman Charles Ogbonna, and he was then placed under observation in NDLEA custody, where he began to show signs of discomfort. Clearly choked by the volume of illicit drugs in his stomach and another substance taken to prevent excretion, the suspect began to retch before vomiting and excreting wraps of cocaine he had ingested almost simultaneously.

The suspect, who claimed to have been recruited into drug trafficking by one of his relatives, eventually passed out 80 wraps of cocaine weighing 889 grammes through his mouth and anus over the course of four days.

Ogbonna claimed he was given the drugs to swallow at a hotel in Ikeja’s Ipodo area, with the promise of N300,000 in cash if he successfully delivered the consignment to India.

He was then arraigned before Justice Dipeolu Isaac of the Federal High Court in Lagos on charge number FHCL/378/2024 for violating section 20(1)(b) and punishable under section 20(2)(a) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 LFN 2004.

On Monday, Justice Dipeolu sentenced Ogbonna to 25 years in prison without the option of a fine.

In response to the case’s outcome, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Brig Gen Buba Marwa (Rtd) praised the MMIA Command and the prosecution team for their prompt and diligent handling of the case, emphasising that the judiciary remains a strong pillar in Nigeria’s coordinated and concerted effort to combat the scourge of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.

He said Ogbonna’s conviction will send a strong message to his contemporaries that there will be no safe haven for drug barons and mules.