Vietnam court overturns death penalty for Nigerian drug mule

A court in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday reduced a death sentence previously handed to a Nigerian man for bringing methamphetamine into Vietnam to life imprisonment, local media reports.
The indictment said Ejiogu Benjamin Ikechukwu had nearly 3.3 kilograms of the drug in metal tubes and a laptop charger in his luggage as he flew to Tan Son Nhat in June 2012.
He had transited in Qatar.
The 33-year-old said he only planned to go to Vietnam to buy clothes to resell them in Nigeria and had no idea about the drug in his luggage.
He said a man asked him to carry the tubes and the charger to Vietnam and someone would pick them up.

You may also like: Indonesia: Four Nigerians executed by firing squad

A Ho Chi Minh court in August 2013 sentenced him to death, but he appealed the verdict.
The People’s Supreme Court then canceled the verdict, ordering a new investigation.
Investigators could not track down the people who had used him as a drug mule.
Those convicted of smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in Vietnam face the death penalty.
The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.
– Thanh Nien News

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now