A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Thursday sentenced 60-year-old Chinese woman, Ting Hong Kiaon, to two years imprisonment without option of fine for trafficking 31 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa to Nigeria.
Justice Musa Kakaki convicted Kiaon after she pleaded guilty to one -count charge of unlawful importation of 31 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa preferred against her by The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
In the one-count charge filed by the its prosecutor, Cyril Osaigbovo, NDLEA alleged that Kiaon was caught with 31 kilograms of cannabis sativa, a narcotic drug similar to cocaine, heroin and LSD on her arrival in Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja Lagos on 17th May 2026.
When the charge was read to Kiaon, she pleaded guilty to the charge.
Following her plea of guilty, the prosecutor while reviewing the fact of the case tendered relevant documentary exhibits and the bulk of the cannabis sativa seized from her
After reviewing the facts of the case, the prosecutor urged the court to convict the defendant based on her guilty plea and the uncontroverted evidence adduced by the prosecution.
Justice Kakaki after going through the evidence of the prosecution and other evidence placed before the court, convicted the defendant as charged.
Counsel to the convict, Benson Ndakara in his allocutus on behalf of the convict pleaded for mercy.
Ndakara urged the court to have mercy on the convict, adding that she did not waste the time of the court before she pleaded guilty to the offence.
The lawyer said said showed an act of remorse on the part of the convict.
He added that the convict who is 60 years old has learnt her lesson and would do things differently in future.
The defence counsel also submitted that the convict was a victim of circumstances who met somebody who was smarter than her and that this led her to her predicament.
‘She interacted with a person more wiser than her who proposes love on one hand, but with ulterior motive. I pray for a non custodian sentence by imposing an option of fine on the convict, I am ready to bear the expenses for her. ‘
‘She has been abandoned , I ask for mercy from the temple of justice,’ the defence counsel pleaded.
After listening to the two parties, Justice Kakaki, in his verdict, sentenced the convict to two years imprisonment starting from the 17th of May 2026, the date of her arrest.
Justice Kakaki said the convict is somebody who knows what she was into and that with the prevalent of hard drugs, the damage to the society and the image of the country, he can not close his eyes to the evil of drug trafficking.