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By Correspondent in Abuja.
A dramatic terrorism trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday ended with a 20-year prison sentence for a woman accused of transporting hundreds of live AK-47 ammunition for suspected terror operatives.
Justice Hauwa Yilwa convicted Halima Haliru Umar after she pleaded guilty to charges bordering on illegal possession of firearms ammunition and attempting to support acts of terrorism.
The woman, described in court documents as a resident of Unguwan Boka in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State, was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services in Plateau State while allegedly conveying 302 rounds of AK-47 live ammunition.
The court heard that Halima admitted to two out of the four-count charges filed against her by the DSS.
Delivering judgment, Justice Yilwa held that the defendant’s guilty plea amounted to an admission of the prosecution’s case.
“The defendant, having admitted the facts of the offence as presented by the prosecution, the court is satisfied. She is accordingly convicted on counts three and four,” the judge ruled.
The court subsequently sentenced her to 20 years imprisonment on the terrorism-related count and one year jail term for unlawful possession of ammunition.
Earlier, the defence counsel, Hamza Dantani, pleaded for mercy, describing the convict as a first-time offender and a nursing mother arrested alongside her one-year-old child.
He told the court that she was remorseful and had cooperated with investigators by not wasting the court’s time.
However, prosecuting the counsel, Dr. Caliatus Eze, urged the court to rely on the facts before it, though he admitted that the prosecution had no previous criminal record against the defendant.
In chilling details presented before the court, a DSS operative, Fahad Tahir, narrated how investigators uncovered the alleged ammunition delivery mission.
According to Tahir, Halima confessed during interrogation that a man identified simply as Sani instructed her to travel from Katsina to Zaria in Kaduna State to collect a “message.”
The witness said Sani allegedly gave her N50,000 as transport fare before later directing her to proceed to Jos, Plateau State, where another contact handed over a waste bag containing 302 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition.
“She stated that on her way back, she was arrested while being in possession of the 302 rounds of live ammunition,” the DSS operative told the court.
The witness added that the suspect’s statement was recorded both in Hausa and English, with audio and video recordings made in the presence of an official of the Legal Aid Council.
Justice Yilwa adjourned further proceedings in the matter until July 9 for the commencement of trial on the remaining two counts, to which the defendant pleaded not guilty.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
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