Man bags 1-year imprisonment for possession of 5.038kg of cannabis

On Monday, Justice Hadiza Shagari of the Federal High Court Kaduna sentenced Samson Titus, 20, to one year in prison for possessing 5.038kg of cannabis sativa.

Titus, who was arrested on December 29, 2022 in Kaduna with substances suspected to be cannabis sativa in a small black bag, pleaded guilty to a single count of unlawful possession of cannabis.

After sentencing Titus, the judge ordered that his sentence begin on the date of his arrest.

She also directed the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to destroy the drugs within 90 days of the judgement.

”Based on Section 19 of the NDLEA Act, there is no option for fine and the offence attracts a minimum of 15 to 25 years imprisonment,” she said.

She, however, said that she was lenient on the convict because of the quantity of drugs seized, testimony of the remorseful convict in court and the age of the convict.

She explained that the sentence was a reformatory one with the hope that the convict would repent after serving his jail term.

Earlier, the NDLEA Prosecution counsel, Mr T.J. Atserhegh, said that Titus willingly wrote his statement and was cautioned afterwards.

He said that the substances were sent to the NDLEA forensic unit for test and the result came in positive to illicit drugs.

The prosecutor tendered before the court, a certificate of test analysis form, NDLEA packaging of substance form, NDLEA request for scientific aid form, drug analysis report and bulk of the cannabis sativa. (NAN)