By Soni Daniel

Lagos—Two Nigerians, Ojukwu Nnamdi Roland and Ngene Linus Chibuike, arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, while attempting to smuggle $5,424,270 out of the country, have been convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment each by Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

Rowland was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on October 22, 2015, for being in possession of $2,917,272 during his outbound clearance for a journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Contrary to the requirements of the law, Rowland did not declare the money to men and officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and was subsequently arrested and arraigned before Justice Buba.

Rowland pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge preferred against him and the matter went into full trial.

FG gets the monies

Justice Buba found him guilty and sentenced him to two years imprisonment.

He also ordered that the convict should forfeit the entire sum to the Federal government.

Justice Buba said that 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.

Chibuike, on the other hand, was arraigned on October 22, 2015 for falsely declaring $11,500 out of $2,506,998 he had in his possession during an outbound clearance for a journey to China en-route Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Chibuike 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 $2,495,498, not declared, to the Federal Government.