Two persons, Ogenebo Sweet and Francis Richie, were on Tuesday jailed for concealing two locally made pistols in a bag  garri.

Sweet who was 18 years old in 2009 when he committed the offence was sentenced to the number of years he had spent in custody.

Richie who was 23 at the time of committing the offence was jailed for three years which Justice Charles Archibong said would “take into account time already spent in the custody”.

The Prosecuting Lawyer, Mr. A. Owobokiri, had told the court that the duo were arrested in October 2009 along the Kaiama axis of the East-West Road by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

“They were on their way to Rivers State when the operatives who were on a motorised patrol flagged their car down.

“When the bag of garri they claimed ownership of was searched, the operatives recovered illegal arms hidden inside it. They confessed to owning the firearms”, he said.

He said the case was delayed because the former judge who handled the matter embarked on a long vacation.

Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday dragged eight persons to the Federal High Court, Calabar on a two-count charge of illegal dealing in petroleum products.

The Nigerian Navy Ship Victory in Calabar had on December 21, 2012 arrested the eight suspects with over 220 drums of illegally produced diesel.

However, at the arraignment, the presiding Judge of the Federal High Court 01, Justice Emmanuel Obile, denied the oral bail application requested by counsel to the suspected illegal oil dealers.

According to the EFCC, the offence is contrary to section 1(17)(a) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act CAPM17, OF 2007 and punishable under section 1(17)of the same act.

The eight accused persons: Uyo Asuquo, Etim Asuquo, Etim Asuquo, Eitanam Utibe, Effiong Eniedi, Uso Sunday, Okon Umoh and Patrick Eyo, all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In his submission, counsel to the defendants, Mr. Etim Inyang, applied orally for bail for the accused to enable him study the case and come back at a later date to file his defence.

The prosecution counsel, Mr. Frederick Dibang, objected to the oral application for the bail of the accused because it was not formal.

Obile rejected the defence counsel’s plea for bail of the accused and ordered that the eight accused be remanded in prison custody.

The case was further adjourned till February 4, 2013 for hearing on the bail application.

– Punch Newspapers