NIGERIAN FEMALE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING IN MALAYSIA

A 30-year-old Nigerian female student in Malaysia, Mary George Unazi, has been sentenced to death by a Malaysian High Court after she was found guilty of trafficking 765.9gm of metamphetamine, also known as crystal meth, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) four years ago.

Judge Datuk Ghazali Cha passed a death sentence on Unazi after finding that the prosecution had managed to prove the defendant guilty.

Ghazali, in his verdict, said that the accused defence failed. He added that the private college student also failed to prove that the bag containing the drug was not hers.

Unazi was said to have committed the crime at the baggage claim area of the international arrival hall of KLIA on May 10, 2011.

The accused was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 of Malaysia, which carries a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

On April 28, 2015, the Indonesian government executed eight drug convicts, among them four Nigerians, through firing squad on the island of Nusakambangan.

After they were executed, the Goodluck Jonathan administration extended its condolences to the families of the deceased and warned Nigerians to desist from drug trafficking and other crimes that stipulate maximum punishment in different countries of the world.

Recently, a group of Nigerians living outside the country, the United Nigerians In Diaspora (UNID), revealed that eight more Nigerians have been sentenced to death in Indonesia. The group urged the federal government to negotiate with Indonesia to stop their execution.

Speaking with journalists in Lagos, Paschal Okolie, the group’s president, condemned the poor attitude of the government towards the killing of four Nigerians by the Indonesian government.

“Considering that the next batch of execution will take place in no distant time in Indonesia, we urge the good people of Nigeria and our government to rise up with the entire world to stop further executions of Nigerians. Enough of the killings. Nigeria should leverage on the strong bilateral relationship it has with Indonesia and negotiate to stop the execution of the eight waiting to be killed. In as much as we totally condemn drug trafficking and wish to sensitise intending traffickers on the consequences that await offenders, we also condemn capital punishment especially since it has not been able to quell the issue of drug trafficking in Indonesia,” he said.

Okolie gave the names of those awaiting execution as Michael Titus Igwe, Kingsley Okonkwo, Uchenna Onyewuru, Eugene Ape, Humphrey Ejike, Obinna Nwajiagu, Benjamin Onuoha and Ikenna Abanukwu.