Man swallowed $115,000 at the airport

One Onwuasonya Augustine was charged to court
on Tuesday by the EFCC for allegedly swallowing
$115,000 to avoid declaring it to officials of the
Nigeria Customs Service at the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
He was arraigned along with five other alleged
accomplices, Christian Okoli, Kingsley Nwokenta,
aka Buchito, Nwokenta Emmanuel, Ezenwa Ikenna
and Ezenwa Uzoma for the offence of money
laundering
The six were charged with four counts before
Justice C.J. Aneke of a Federal High Court in
Lagos.
The agency alleged that Onwuasonya and the 5
others committed the offence on August 25,
2015, and were apprehended at Room 303 of a
five-star hotel in Lagos.
The sixth accused, Uzoma, was singularly charged
with the offence of obstructing an NDLEA official,
Bello Tsanya, in the discharge of his duty.
However, when the charges were read to the six
accused in court, they all pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutor said:
“In view of the plea of the accused, I
respectfully pray the honourable court for a
trial date to enable us bring our witnesses.
However, I will also be praying that the
accused persons be remanded in prison
pending trial.”
But the counsel for the 1st to 5th accused, Mr.
Victor Opara, told the court that he had filed bail
applications on their behalf stating that the 2nd
defendant had health challenges, which were
being treated while he was in the custody of the
EFCC.
He asked the court to remand all the accused in
EFCC custody so that they could have easy
access to treatment and lawyers.
Justice Aneke adjourned till December 11, 2015,
to take the bail applications of the accused and
ordered their remand at the Ikoyi Prison.