Five in court for smoking Indian hemp

Lagos – The police in Lagos on Monday arraigned five men for allegedly smoking indian hemp in public.

The men – Lukman Aipa, 30; Seriki Mudasiru, 33; Friday Akpan, 29; Rasaq Hussein, 30 and Mustapha Sulaiman, 32 – are facing charges of unlawful gathering and smoking of indian hemp before an Ojokoro Magistrates’ Court.

The accused, who have no visible means of livelihood, all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The prosecutor, Insp. Clara Olagbaiye, told the court that the accused allegedly committed the offences on Nov. 30 at Egan/Igando Road. at 6.00 p.m.

“The five men unlawfully gathered with the intention of carrying out a criminal act and conducted themselves in a manner likely to cause breach of peace by publicly smoking Indian hemp”, he said.

The offences, according to the prosecutor, contravened sections 166 and 327 of the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos State.

The Magistrate, Mr K.O Ogundare, however, granted accused bail in the sum of N50, 000,  with one surety each in like sum, and adjourned the case to Jan. 14. (NAN)