The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, announced on Tuesday that Freeman Ogbonna, a drug trafficker arrested and prosecuted by the agency, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.
The sentencing occurred three months after Ogbonna vomited and excreted 80 wraps of cocaine following his arrest at the screening point of Terminal II of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.
Ogbonna was arrested on Sunday, March 31, 2024, while attempting to board a flight to Delhi, India, via Doha on Qatar Airways, using a Liberian passport under the name Carr Bismark.
The statement stated that a body scan later confirmed he had ingested illicit drugs.
The statement said, “Preliminary checks revealed his real identity as Freeman Charles Ogbonna, and he was subsequently placed under observation in the NDLEA custody, where he started to manifest signs of discomfort.
“Obviously choked by the volume of illicit drugs in his stomach and another substance taken to hold back excretion, the suspect soon began to retch before starting to vomit and excrete wraps of cocaine he ingested almost simultaneously.
“The suspect who claimed he was recruited into drug trafficking by one of his relatives eventually passed out a total of 80 wraps of cocaine weighing 889 grammes through his mouth and anus over a period of four days.”
Babefemi stated that the risk the convicted drug baron took nearly cost him his life in exchange for the promised N300,000 cash prize if the tasks had been successful.
He mentioned that Ogbonna was later brought before Justice Dipeolu Deinde Isaac at the Federal High Court in Lagos, where Ogbonna received a 25-year prison sentence with no option for a fine.
In March 2024, DECENCY GLOBAL NEWS reported that Justice Dipeolu had previously sentenced Mrs Odeyemi Omolara to 15 years in prison for a similar drug trafficking offence in the same court.
