A Federal High Court in Kano has sentenced a 42-year-old Indian woman, Neetu Neetu, to five years in prison for smuggling heroin into Nigeria.
Justice Simon Amobeda delivered the judgment on Monday under charge number FHC/KN/CR/65/2025. Neetu was arrested on March 14 at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport after arriving on a Qatar Airways flight from Bangkok via Vietnam and Doha. She was found in possession of 11kg of heroin disguised as chocolates.
The court sentenced her to five years on each of two counts, but gave her the option of paying a ₦2 million fine.
Neetu’s conviction is among several recent rulings by Federal High Courts across the country targeting transnational drug trafficking.
In a separate case in Lagos, a businessman, Ajah Johnson Uchenna, and his wife, Rosemary Uchenna, were convicted of trafficking 414.2kg of cannabis. Justice Deinde Dipeolu sentenced the couple to a combined 22 and a half years in prison.
Rosemary was sentenced to 17 years, while her husband received five and a half years, with an option of a ₦1 million fine on one count. Over ₦3.4 million recovered from them was ordered forfeited to the federal government.
In another ruling in Kano, Justice Mohammed Yunusa sentenced Mbala Dajou Abuba, an Angolan national, to five years in prison for attempting to smuggle 1.8kg of cocaine by swallowing it. He was arrested on February 25 while boarding an Egypt Air flight to Istanbul via Cairo.
At the Federal High Court in Enugu, Justice M.G. Umar sentenced Eze Christian Ikenna to three years on each of two counts for trafficking 11.2kg of cocaine hidden in herbal tea sachets. The sentences will run concurrently. Ikenna was caught after arriving from Brazil at Akanu Ibiam International Airport.
Meanwhile, Justice Ibrahim Ahmad Kala of the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the final forfeiture of an 80-room hotel and several vehicles linked to a drug syndicate. The property, located on Waziri Ibrahim Street in Victoria Island, was raided in April. NDLEA officers recovered 417.3kg of Canadian Loud, a high-grade strain of cannabis, worth over ₦1 billion.
Items forfeited include a Toyota Sienna, Volkswagen Van, Land Cruiser Prado, Mercedes Benz truck, 84 television sets, 70 air conditioners, and 13 refrigerators. The ruling followed motion number FHC/L/MISC/447/2025, decided on July 18.
Reacting to the convictions and asset forfeitures, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, quoted the agency’s Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), as saying, “Nothing serves the cause of justice more than when the criminal elements are given long jail terms and made to forfeit all they have acquired through the proceeds of their illicit drug trade. We’re happy with this kind of judicial pronouncements, which will not only encourage our men to do more but will have long-lasting impact on our drug control efforts.”
He added that the NDLEA commends the officers who investigated the cases and the judiciary for their swift judgments.
