Chinese woman bags 2yrs jail term for trafficking 31kg of Cannabis Sativa
By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Justice Musa Kakaki of a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi Lagos on Wednesday sentenced Ting HONG KiONG, a female Chinese national to two years imprisonment for trafficking 31.00 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa.
Justice Kakaki had on Tuesday convicted Ting HONG KiONG when she was arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) before the court but deferred sentence till Wednesday (today). She had pleaded guilty to a one count charge of unlawful importation of 31kilograms of Cannabis Sativa .
According to the one count charge filed by counsel to the NDLEA, Abu Ibrahim Esq. and argued by Barrister Cyril Osaigbovo, the defendant Ting HONG KiONG, a Chinese lady married to a Malaysian man was alleged to have on or about the 17th day of May 2026 during the inward clearance of passengers aboard Emirates Airlines flight from Bangkok via Dubai to Lagos at the Arrival Hall of Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja Lagos without lawful authority imported 31Kilograms of Cannabis Sativa, a Narcotic Drug, similar to Cocaine, Heroin and LSD.
When the matter came up for arraignment on Tuesday, NDLEA prosecutor Cyril Osaigbovo informed the court that the prosecution has a one count charge against the defendant and prayed the court to order the charge to be read to her.
The charge was then read and Ting HONG KiONG pleaded guilty to the one count.
Following her guilty plea, the prosecutor prayed the court to allow him review the facts of the case which was done by tendering relevant documentary exhibits and the bulk of the Cannabis Sativa seized from the defendant.
After reviewing the facts of the case, the prosecutor urged the court to convict the defendant based on her guilty plea and the uncontroverted evidence adduced by the prosecution.
After going through the evidence of the prosecution and other evidence placed before the court, Justice Kakaki convicted the defendant as charged.
In his allocutus, Counsel to the convict, Chief Benson Ndakara on behalf of the convict pleaded for mercy.
Ndakara urged the court to have mercy on the convict, adding that she did not waste the time of the court before she pleaded guilty to the offence, this Ndakara said amounted to act of remorse on the part of the convict.
He added that the convict who is 60 years old has learnt her lesson and would do better things differently in future.
The defence counsel submitted that the convict was a victim of circumstances who met somebody who was smarter than her which led her to her present predicament.
” She interacted with a person more wiser than her who proposes love on one hand, but with ulterior motive. ” I pray for a non custodian sentence by imposing an option of fine on the convict, I am ready to bear the expenses for her. “
“She has been abandoned , I ask for mercy from the temple of justice”
After listening to parties, Justice Kakaki adjourned the matter till today (Wednesday) for sentencing.
Delivering his sentence at the resumed hearing of the matter on Wednesday, Justice Kakaki sentenced the convict to 2 years imprisonment from the 17th of May 2026, the date of her arrest.
Justice Kakaki held that the convict is somebody who knows what she was into and that with the prevalent of hard drugs in our society and with the damage to the society and the image of the country, he cannot close his eyes to the evil of drug trafficking.
The one count charge against the defendant reads: “That you Ting Hong Kiong, Malaysian Chinese, Female, Adult on or about the 17th day of May 2026 during the inward clearance of passengers aboard Emirates Airlines flight from Bangkok via Dubai to Lagos at the Arrival Hall of Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja Lagos, without lawful authority imported 31Kilograms of Cannabis Sativa, a Narcotic Drug, similar to Cocaine, Heroin, LSD and you thereby committed an act which is an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 11 (a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
