KOCHI: An additional sessions court here sentenced Henry Offer Chuma, a Nigerian national arrested for attempting to smuggle out drugs worth ₹8 crore, to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on Henry. If he defaults, he will have to serve an additional one-year jail term, and the substantive sentences of imprisonment shall run concurrently.
Henry was intercepted by the Commissionerate of Customs (Preventive) in February last year while he was smuggling out drugs through a courier agency in Kochi. Officials seized 4,005 grams of heroin, valued at ₹7 seven crore, and 300 grams of methamphetamine, valued at ₹1crore, upon scrutiny of the courier parcels. The parcels were being consigned to Netherlands, Greece, Spain, and Australia. During interrogation, Henry also confessed to pushing drugs through courier services on several occasions during his stay in New Delhi.
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Based on the findings, he was booked under Section 42 of the NDPS Act, 1985.
Officials also found that the accused had been in possession of passport No. 661898 / 2014 issued by the Republic of Benin with his name given as Judee Mitchele. The document, however, was confirmed fake, when referred to the country’s consulate in Bengaluru.