Court jails fake drug importer

FOR importing several packets of fake Lonart DS tablets, an anti-malaria therapy into the country, a Lagos-based businessman will had to spend 20 months behind bars.Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court, Lagosgave the verdict after finding the businessman, Paul Ejiofor guilty as charged.Ejiofor was arraigned by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) at the court on a seven-count charge of importing fake drugs into the country.He was arrested at the Nigerian end of Seme border in Badagry Local Council in Lagos State by NAFDAC and the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives on January 16, 2010.The convict, whoinitially pleaded not guilty to the charges, changed his plea, and pleaded guilty to five out of the seven counts in the charge sheet, a development that prompted NAFDAC's counsel,Charles Umweni to apply that counts six and seven be deleted from the charge sheet.Following Ejiofor's new plea, his counsel, Bimbo Obaseki pleaded for the court's leniencyby tempering justice with mercy.Obaseki also urged Justice Abang to take cognisance of the fact that Ejiofor never wasted the time of the court by pleading guilty to the allegations, and that he was now remorseful.In his judgment, Justice Abang noted that Ejiofor and his likes who engage in the senseless trade of counterfeiting and adulterating drugs do not show any mercy to their victims, many of whom have died.The judge commended NAFDAC for its vigilance, saying the drugs could have led to the loss of many lives if allowed into the Nigerian market.Justice Abang, who sentenced Ejiofor to four months jail term each on the five counts, however ruled that the term of imprisonment should run concurrently.
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