Justice Dehinde Dipeolu of a Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced a businessman, Duru Ikechukwu Damian, to three months’ imprisonment for failing to declare the sum of $49,000 to operatives of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

The conviction followed Damian’s guilty plea to a one-count charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). EFCC’s lawyer, Deborah Adamu-Eteh, led the Commission’s investigating officer, Muhammad Adamu Timta, to review the facts of the case after the defendant admitted guilt.

Timta informed the court that the defendant was handed over to the EFCC by the Nigerian Customs Service and that an investigation was immediately launched.

“The sum of $49,000 was found on the defendant without declaration at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, on the 11th of August, during inwards clearance to the United States of America,” he told the court. The prosecution tendered the recovered money as an exhibit, which the court admitted without objection.