Absence of translator stalls trial of 5 Guineans in smuggling case

By Steve Agbota

The inability of the Federal High Court in Lagos to get a translator on Wednesday stalled the scheduled arraignment of five Guinea nationals paraded in Lagos recently by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for the alleged smuggling of pangolin.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo adjourned the arraignment until August 26 to make provision for an interpreter.

Speaking to reporters after the court adjourned, Mr Smart Akande, Legal Adviser to the NCS, listed the names of the suspects as Murybine Berete, Traore Djakouba, Isiaka Musa, Mohammed Berete and Sediki Berete all Guinean national.

He said during a recent inspection by the Comptroller General of Customs, Col Hameed Ali, the matter, which had to do with smuggling of pangolins would not be swept under the carpet.

According to him, the suspects would be charged to court for prosecution.

‘Today we are in court to arraign the suspects but unfortunately, we could not proceed because some of them are foreigners and they are supposed to understand the charges before them,’ he said.

He added that the charges should be read in a language they understand so that they can give a plea.

‘Because the interpreter was not available due to the fact that the court does not have the facility today, the matter was adjourned to August 26 for arraignment, hoping that the interpreter will be present to interpret the charges to them,’ he said.

He indicated that the court had ordered that the suspects to be remanded in Customs custody pending the arraignment.

He said that the suspects are being charged on four counts of being concerned with exporting contraband goods, concerned with storage, loading and bringing in the contraband.

‘In other words, for them to have exported, they must have loaded it somewhere and this is an offence, bringing it and storing it somewhere are offences and they carry some penalty and that is why we are here,’ he said.

Mr Olayinka Lawal, counsel to the defendants, collaborated the response of Akande on the issue of adjournment, which was due to the defendants not understanding any Nigerian language as well as the court language.

He hoped that by the adjourned date, an interpreter would have been provided for the suspects.