NEW DELHI: A court here has convicted a Nigerian national for possessing contraband heroin and overstaying his visa, and sentenced him to three years’ rigorous imprisonment. Special Judge (NDPS) Deepak Wason convicted Chima Kingslay (41), a resident of Yenagoa in southern Nigeria, and said his sentences for the possession of heroin and illegal stay will run concurrently.
Police had recovered an intermediate quantity (around 129.3 gm) of heroin from his possession and found him staying in the country without a valid visa on January 4, 2018. An intermediate quantity of heroin, according to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, is less than a commercial quantity (250 gm) but greater than a small quantity (5 gm).
“Convict Chima Kingslay is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay fine of Rs 20,000 for the commission of offence under the NDPS Act and undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay fine of Rs 20,000 for the commission of offence under’Foreigners Act,” the judge said in an order passed on Monday.
The court also said the period of detention undergone by the accused is to be set off against the sentence.
It ordered Kingslay to be deported to his native country after serving the sentence. While convicting Kingslay, the court said there was no doubt that the accused was in ‘conscious possession of heroin.’ The court said all procedural safeguards under the act were strictly complied with and prosecution proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt.