by ‘Jola Sotubo

A young Nigerian has been found guilty of drug trafficking by a Cambodia court and  has been sentenced to 27 years imprisonment.

23-year-old Precious Chineme Nwoko was found guilty of the crimes along with 2 other Nigerian men, who are currently at large, as well as 2 foreign women, one French, the other Australian.

19-year-old French citizen, Charlene Savarino, said to be Nwoko’s girlfriend, and Australian citizen Yoshe Ann Taylor, 41 were arrested after being found with a bag of drugs said to have been given to them by Nwoko.

The accused were all said to have participated in the attempt to smuggle 2.2 kg of heroin from Cambodia to Australia.

The Nigerian men on the run, identified simply as Mr. Anto and Mr. Ashita, were tried in absentia and sentence to 27 years in prison, the same as Mr. Nwoko, while the French woman received 25 years and the Australian 23.

Mr. Nwoko’s lawyer, Heng Pheng, however maintained his client’s innocence saying that the drugs belonged to the other 2 Nigerians and that no drugs were found on his client’s person.

He said:

“Police arrested my client in his rental [house] in Chamkar Mon district, but they did not find drugs with him.”

Mr. Pheng said the conviction was unacceptable and that Mr. Nwoko would appeal the sentence.