Justice Patricia Ajoku of the Federal High Court, Ibadan has adjourned commencement of the trial of an alleged cocaine peddler, Samson Ezekiel, till July 14.

The Newsmen reports that the adjournment followed the failure of the authorities of Agodi Correctional Centre to produce the suspect in court.

Ajoku adjourned the case after counsel to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr Raphael Himinkaiye, had told the court that the correctional centre refused to produce Ezekiel for the trial, billed to commence on Thursday.

Himinkaiye further explained that warders at the Agodi custodial centre had stopped admitting the defendants remanded in their facility.

He said that the authorities complained that the facilities at the centre had been overstretched.

Newsmen recalls that the 27-year-old Ezekiel was arrested on Feb. 5 on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway while collecting a parcel containing 1.2 kg of cocaine from a commercial driver who was sent to deliver the substance to him.

He had made a written confessional statement to the NDLEA that one Kazeem, based in Lagos, sent the parcel to him and that it was not the first time he (Kazeem) would be sending him the illicit substance for sale.