Two Nigerians, Ojukwu Nnamdi Roland and Ngene Linus Chibuike, arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, while attempting to smuggled $5,424,270 USD out of the country, have been convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment respectively 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 cash in the sum of US$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. Justice Buba found him guilty and sentenced him to two years imprisonment. He also ordered that the convict should forfeit the entire sum of $2,917,272 USD 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 9 February, 2016.

Chibuike, on the other hand, was arraigned on October 22, 2015 for falsely declaring the sum of US$11,500 out of the sum of $2,506,998 USD 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 sum of $2,495,498not declared to the Customs Officials to the Federal government

He ruled that the two years imprisonment should take effect from February 9, 2016.

•Photo shows the convicts, Ojukwu Nnamdi Roland and Ngene Linus Chibuike.

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