Two Nigerians, Ojukwu Nnamdi Rowland and Ngene Linus Chibuike (pictured
above), who were arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,
Lagos, while attempting to smuggle $5, 424,270 USD out of the country
in October last year, have been convicted and sentenced to two years
imprisonment respectively by Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High
Court, Lagos.
Rowland was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
on October 22, 2015, for being in possession of cash in the sum of
US$2,917,272 (Two Million, Nine Hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Two
Hundred and Seventy Two United States Dollars) during his outbound
clearance for a journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Rowland did not declare the money to men and officers of the Nigeria
Customs Service and was subsequently arrested and arraigned before
Justice Buba. He pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge preferred
against him and the matter went into full trial. Justice Buba found him
guilty and sentenced him to two years imprisonment. He also ordered that
the convict should forfeit the entire sum of $2,917,272 USD (Two
Million, Nine Hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy
Two United States Dollars) to the Nigerian government.
Justice Buba said the convict did not do the right thing by failing to
declare the money to Customs officials. He ruled that the two years
imprisonment should take effect from February 9, 2016.
Chibuike, on the other hand, was arraigned on October 22, 2015 for
falsely declaring the sum of US$11,500 (Eleven Thousand and Five Hundred
United States Dollars) out of the sum of $2,506,998 USD (Two Million,
Five Hundred and Six Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Eight United
States Dollars) he had in his possession during an outbound clearance
for a journey to China en-route Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He pleaded not
guilty to the one-count charge raised against him and the matter went
into full trial. Justice Buba found him guilty and sentenced him to two
years imprisonment.
He also ordered that the convict should forfeit the sum of $2,495, 498
(Two Million, Four Hundred and Ninety- Five Thousand, Four Hundred and
Ninety-Eight United States Dollars) not declared to the customs
officials to the Nigerian government.
He ruled that the two years imprisonment should take effect from February 9, 2016.
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