A 55-year-old pilgrim to Saudi Arabia, Basirat Iyabo
Binuyo, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, for
smuggling 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 931 grammes to Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Binuyo was sentenced yesterday by Justice B.O.
Quadri of the Federal High Court Abuja.
In her statement to the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA), Binuyo admitted to smuggling the drugs for a fee.
Binuyo, a trader in Lagos, married with three
children, said: “I wanted to expand my cosmetic business but I had no money. My
sponsor offered to foot my expenses to Saudi on pilgrimage. I was excited until
I was asked to take drugs along. I wanted to decline but considering the offer
of a million naira, I accepted. I swallowed the drugs in Lagos and took flight
to Abuja on my way to Medina but I was caught in the process.”
Binuyo tested positive to narcotic ingestion at the
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja while on pilgrimage to Saudi
Arabia last September. She was immediately placed under observation by
officials of the NDLEA where she excreted 76 pellets of substances found to be
cocaine.
In his judgment delivered on yesterday, Quadri said
that the sentence should serve as a deterrent to others. He said the hard
labour was added because the convict failed to reveal the identity of her
sponsors.
NDLEA commander at the Abuja airport, Hamisu Lawan
said that the convict is from Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State and
used to sell at Dosumu Market, Lagos.
Chairman of the Agency, Col. Muhammad Mustapha
Abdallah (rtd), while applauding the sentence warned against drug trafficking.
He said: "The war against drug trafficking in
Nigeria is on course. Stopping the woman from going to Saudi with the drugs was
highly commendable and the punishment is right. No drug traffickers shall go
unpunished.”
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