The Federal High Court sitting in Katsina has sentenced one Muyeedeen Jamilu, 42, to five and a half years’ imprisonment for trafficking in persons.

Jamilu, a resident of Brigade quarters in Kano, was accused of procuring illegal entry for 11 youths – 10 female and one male – to go to Libya but were arrested by the Joint Taskforce of the National Agency for the Prohibition Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) while en route from Kano on Nov. 30, 2020.

Following the arrest, 11 count charges were filed against the defendant, punishable under Section 26 (1) of the Trafficking in Person (Prohibition) Act (2015), and when the charges were read to him he admitted and pleaded guilty.

Prosecuting counsel, Abdullahi Babale, tendered the confessional statement of the defendant and those of the 11 victims as evidence, while urging the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.

Defence counsel Abdurrahman Shittu, said that he had no objection since the defendant had pleaded guilty to the charges, without wasting the precious time of the court.

In her judgment, the presiding judge, Justice Hadiza Rabiu, noted that since there was no better evidence than self-confession, and the defendant had pleaded guilty, even though he was remorseful, he cannot go unpunished so that it would deter him and others who might want to commit a similar offence in the future.

“I, therefore, sentence you to 6 months prison term for each of the 11 offences, from the date of arrest,” she rule