A drug smuggler goes undetected on a Qatar Airways flight travelling from Kenya to Nigeria.
A Federal High Court in Nigeria has rejected the bail application of a Qatar-based Nigerian drug smuggler. Agudozie Peter Ihie, was charged of smuggling 650 grams worth of cocaine into Lagos, by ingestion last year according to local media.
Justice Tijjani Ringim argued that Ihie posed a “flight risk” threat and could possibly absolve himself from the trial and bolt.
The judge detained Ihie in Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) and placed him in custody pending trial.
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Ihie’s arraignment by the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) took place last month where he was indicted with a two-count charge of illegal importation of banned drugs, namely cocaine.
The defendant’s prosecution
NDLEA prosecution counsel, Juliana Imaobong-Iroabuchi said that “the defendant unlawfully imported the banned substance and was arrested on May 25, 2021,” at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja Lagos. He was onboard a Qatar Airways flight from Kenya to Nigeria.
The NDLEA counsel noted that while Ihie was on board the aircraft he “excreted parts of the banned substance and hid it in his socks and private parts.”
“Upon his arrest, he also excreted more of the substance while he was under observation,” she added before the court.
The defendant pleaded exoneration to the charges.
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Following his ‘plea of not guilty,’ prosecutor Imaobong-Iroabuchi asked the court for a trial date and pushed the court to remand the defendant in custody until an official decision regarding his charges is finalised.
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