Vietnam court commutes death sentence passed on Nigerian drug pusher

                                            
A Nigerian man who was sentenced to death for trafficking drug has cause to thank God as the death sentenced has been commuted to a life sentence by a Vietnamese court.

The man, Benjamin Ikechukwu Ejiogu, 33, was sentenced to death for smuggling methamphetamine, a banned drug, worth 3.3 kilograms  into the country in 2012.

The banned substance was allegedly concealed in metal tubes and a laptop charger in his luggage as he flew to Tan Son Nhat in the country.

When he was arrested, Ejiogu had told the police he was in that country to buy clothes to resell them in Nigeria and had no idea about the drug in his luggage.

According to him, a man had asked him to carry the tubes and the charger to Vietnam and that someone would pick them up.

A Vietnam court heard the case brought against him by Vietnam police in August 2013 and sentenced him to death, but he appealed the verdict. The Vietnam Supreme Court then cancelled the verdict, ordering a new investigation. Investigators could not track down the people who had used him as a drug mule.

According to Vietnam law, anyone convicted of smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in Vietnam would face a death penalty.