A businessman, Ajah Uchenna and his wife Rosemary Uchenna were on Monday 4th August 2025 sentenced to a total of 22 and a half years imprisonment by Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court 8 in Lagos for dealing in illicit drugs.
TheHintsNews reports that the couple was first arrested on Friday 13th June by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) in Ojo area of the state and transferred to NDLEA along with 277.5kg skunk, a strain of cannabis.
NDLEA Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi in a statement issued Tuesday said while they were still being investigated in custody, credible intelligence revealed that the family business was going on in their house.
He explained that this led to a raid of their home and a packing store where 231kg of same substance was recovered by NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 1st July.
Babafemi noted that they were subsequently arraigned in charge number FHC/L/632C/2025 at the Federal High Court Lagos on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, dealing and storage of 414.2 kilograms of cannabis sativa. Delivering his judgement on the case on Monday 4th August, Justice Dipeolu convicted Mrs.
He added: “Rosemary Uchenna on counts 1, 2, and 3 and sentenced her to 17 years in prison without an option of fine, while her husband Johnson Ajah Uchenna was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment without option of fine on count 1 and six months in jail on count 4 with an option of N1 million fine.
“In addition to the jail terms, the trial judge also ordered the sum of ₦3, 407,000 recovered from the couple as proceeds of crime be forfeited to the federal government.
Similarly, a Federal High Court in Kano presided by Justice Simon Amobeda has convicted and sentenced a 42-year-old Indian lady, Neetu Neetu to five years imprisonment for importing 72 parcels of heroin factory sealed in wafer wraps and packaged as chocolates, weighing 11 kilograms into Nigeria through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
Babafemi united that the class A drug consignment was recovered from Neetus luggage after a thorough search, following processed credible intelligence, during an inward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR1431 from Bangkok, Thailand via Vietnam and Doha at the arrival hall of the Kano airport on Friday 14th March 2025.
He stressed that she was subsequently arraigned in charge number FHC/KN/CR/65/2025 before Justice Amobeda who eventually sentenced her to 10 years on two counts with an option of N2 million fine.
In like manner, a 42-year-old Angolan businessman Mbala Abuba was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison by Justice Mohammed Yunusa of a Federal High Court in Kano.
Babafemi revealed that he was arrested and arraigned by NDLEA for ingesting 120 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.829 kilograms.
Abuba who is from the Zaire province in Angola was arrested on Tuesday 25th February 2025 at the screening point of the Kano airport while trying to board Egypt Air flight MS 880 to Istanbul, Turkey via Cairo.