KAIAMA – A Kaiama Magistrate Court in Kwara on Thursday sentenced five persons to six months imprisonment each for smoking Indian hemp and unlawful possession of the substance.
The convicts are Monday Bello, Friday Alabi, Dauda Azeez, Abubakar Kamaldeen and Ismaila Adamu.
Magistrate Ibrahim Dasuki, however, gave them an option of N5,000 fine each with a warning that if they were brought to court again for a similar offence, the maximum jail term would be invoked.
Dasuki said the court was magnanimous in its judgment, saying this was informed by the fact that the convicts were young and could still be useful to the country.
He also ordered the convicts to write, “I will not smoke Indian hemp again” 1000 times to serve as agreement between them and the court.
The police prosecutor, Cpl. Adah Michael, arraigned the convicts on charges of smoking and unlawful possession of Indian hemp, contrary to sections 65 and 64 of the Indian Hemp Act, 2004.
Adah told the court that Cpl. Mohammed Abdulkareem in April 2014 led a team of policemen from Kaiama Divisional Police Headquarters to arrest the convicts.
She said they were arrested with wraps of weed suspected to be Indian hemp and had confessed to committing the offence.
When the pleas of the accused were taken, they all pleaded guilty to the charges.
Upon their pleas, Michael prayed the court for summary trial of the convicts in accordance with the section 157 of the Criminal Procedure Code. (NAN)
