68year old New Zealand grandfather caught with cocaine at Australian Airport claims he was tricked by a Nigerian.

-

The lawyer of a 68-year-old New Zealand beekeeper charged with smuggling more than two kilograms of pure cocaine into Australia, told the court on Monday that his client is a good person who fell victim to online Nigerian scammers.The accused, Roy Stuart Arbon, a New Zealand citizen, was arrested at Perth International Airport in February 2016.

The drugs were concealed in a suitcase he brought from Brazil. He told authorities he had been given the bag by a Nigerian man in Brazil named Anthony Lambert.The court heard he told authorities he was taking the suitcase to India as a favour, and he had checked it and believed it only contained clothes.But Mr Arbon said he had not been able to go to India because he did not have a certificate for yellow fever vaccination.

The court heard two-and-a-half kilograms of powder was found in the bag, two kilograms of which was cocaine, estimated to be worth between $700,000 and $1.4 million.
Border Force officer Christopher Brown told the court Mr Arbon had claimed he was trying to organise a loan of $US120,000 with a Nigerian man named "Doctor William Johnson" who had approached him via the internet.
Mr Arbon said he had intended to sign some loan documents in India, but told a Border Force officer he was to meet Dr Johnson in Sydney for this.
The Border Force officer said Mr Arbon told him of a previous occasion when he brought two suitcases from India to Perth, to be collected by two men of Indian descent.
Mr Arbon's defence lawyer said her client, who was a beekeeper in New Zealand, fell victim to online scammers.
Ms Oliver told the court that her client was an innocent victim of a criminal enterprise who targeted him online.She said Mr Arbon was a good person who did not know he was involved in trafficking drugs.
Prosecutor Edward Fitzpatrick cautioned the jury against having sympathy or prejudice for Mr Arbon, despite the fact he seems a rather grandfatherly man.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FRSC returns recovered N2m to crash victim’s mum

-
Image
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has rescued crash victims involved in a lone accident on the Lagos /Ibadan Expressway and returned over N2million recovered from the  scene to the mother of the owner. Mr Clement Oladele, the FRSC Sector Commander in Ogun,in Abeokuta on Saturday. Oladele said that the accident happened around 10:15am and it involved 11 people, comprising of three men, six female adult and two female children. The sector commander noted that though, there were no deaths recorded, nine of the passengers who included three male  and six female adults sustained serious injuries. “The lone crash involved a Yellow Toyota LiteAce bus with registration number WWD 558 XA travelling from Ibadan to Lagos. “The suspected cause of the crash was tyre burst by the speeding bus,  which lost control. “The injured victims were taken to Ifeoluwa Hospital,  Ogunmakin for medical treatment and the road obstruction cleared, “he said. The FRSC boss said the victims’ belong
Read more

Police arrest Lagos most notorious cultist

-
Image
The most wanted cultist in Lagos, Kanmi, also known as Father, has been arrested by the State Police Command.Father was declared wanted by the police after he was recently released from the prison, Father was reportedly feared by cult groups within Mushin, Itire, Lawanson and Ilasamaja areas of the state. It was further gathered that while he was in detention, cult activities and war reduced, but as soon as he was released, there was a marked escalation of rival cult wars. Following the cult war that started after his release, Commissioner of Police Imohimi Edgal, ordered Police detectives to fish out Father and his alleged killer gang members. The command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Chike Oti, said: “Based on credible intelligence available to us that some cultists led by Kanmi alias Father were planning to strike in Ilasamaja community on March 29, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, directed the Divisional Police Officer of Ilasamaja, SP. Oriyomi Oluwasanmi Titila
Read more

Tiger kills woman in Nepal

-
Image
A wild tiger killed a 41-year-old woman who was collecting fodder for her cattle outside her home in south-eastern Nepal, police said Tuesday. Police officer Dilip Raj Jha said the animal, suspected to have come from the nearby Parsa Wildlife Reserve, on Monday pounced on the woman’s from behind and killed her on the spot. “The two men who went to retrieve her body also came under attack from the tiger. “They sustained minor injuries,” Jha told dpa. Under Nepalese law, the victim’s family is entitled to one million rupees (9,680 dollars) in compensation for death caused by a wild animal. Although tiger attacks are rare in Nepal, human-wild animal conflicts are common, raising concerns about the safety of people living near wildlife reserves. Nepal is home to 198 endangered wild tigers that live in protected areas in the country’s southern plains along the border with India.
Read more