Nigerian gets 10 years for dealing in narcotics

Accra, Nov. 14, GNA - A Nigerian, who had been remanded for the past three- and-half years for dealing in narcotic drugs, on Tuesday had the shock of his life when after changing his plea, an Accra Regional Tribunal imposed a 10-year jail-term on him. The sentence did not take retrospective effect.

Theodore Onwuaeze Aguguo, the Nigerian, was arrested by security personnel at the Kotoka International Airport on March 26, 2003. After investigations on him had been completed, Aguguo was first put before the Tribunal for prosecution on January 13 2006, where he pleaded not guilty to possessing heroin, a narcotic drug, without lawful authority.

His trial had been going on for the past 10 months, but on his appearance at the Tribunal on Tuesday, Aguguo changed his plea to guilty, and he was convicted accordingly. Three other Nigerians, who were arrested together with him on similar offences, are still on trial because they had pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.

They were arrested on suspicion of carrying narcotic drugs, while on transit from Lahore in Pakistan to Abidjan. At the 37th Military Hospital, where Aguguo underwent an X-ray examination, he expelled 88 pellets of foreign substance that later tested positive for heroin. 14 Nov. 06