10 Million Naira Bail ? Wow
A resident of Festac Town , Mr Ntoruka Chinedu a business man who was standing trial for Suspected Hard Drug Trafficking has been granted N10million bail by a Federal High Court in Lagos on for allegedly importing 6.2kg of cocaine into the country.
Mr Chinedu whose residence of abode was given as 402, C Close, Festac Town, Lagos, and standing trial on unlawful possession of illicit drug was arraigned by officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Mr Chinedu was one of the 3 passengers arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos by The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA in April 2015 .
Two Nigerian auto parts dealers based in Uganda, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, 41, and Ndubuisi Offormadu Innocent, 49, were equally caught importing 6.250kg of cocaine and 1.490kg of heroin into the country. The seized drugs weighed 13.085kg comprising 11.595kg of cocaine and 1.490kg of heroin. – Leadership
According to Ofoyeju, the NDLEA Commander at the Lagos Airport, Hamza Umar, said that they were apprehended while trying to smuggle the illegal drugs into the country.
Hard Drug Suspect, Mr Chinedu, who hailed from Anambra State, boarded Ethiopian Airline flight from Kampala, Uganda en-route Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Lagos. He confessed:
“I have lived in Uganda for two years. I am married with two children. I came to Nigeria to attend my brother’s wedding ceremony. While I was preparing to leave Uganda, my friend gave me a bag to take to his brother who lives in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the drug was detected inside the bag”.
He however, pleaded not guilty to the charge before Justice Saliu Saidu, gave the ruling but not before he ruled that the accused must produce two credible sureties, with one of them being a blood relation with a landed property in Lagos.
Justice Saidu also ruled that the second surety must be a public servant with either the Federal or the Lagos State Civil Service on Grade Level 15 and ruled that the accused be remanded in Ikoyi Prisons till all the bail conditions were met.
Counsel to the accused, Mr Victor Okaka, while applying for bail asked the court to grant the bail on liberal terms and supported the bail application with a six-paragraph affidavit and a written address.
Prosecuting counsel, Mr Vembe Emmanuel, who doubled as a lawyer with the NDLEA, in opposing the bail with a nine-paragraph counter-affidavit argued that the accused committed the offence on April 3 during the inward clearance of an Ethiopia Airline flight at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.
He told the court that the accused imported 6.2kg of cocaine into the country and this contravened Section 11 (a) of the NDLEA Act, Laws of the Federation, 2004.
After his ruling to grant the accused bail, Justice Saidu adjourned the case till Oct. 15 for trial.