Nkemakonam Umenyi, 22, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in the Supreme Court in Brisbane to one count of importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug.The court was told he was arrested on June 20 last year after arriving at Brisbane International Airport with almost 1kg of heroin in his suitcase.The drugs had a pure weight of 581.2g and were estimated to be worth $1,160,000.The court was told Umenyi, a microbiology student at one of Nigeria's most exclusive universities, had agreed to courier the drugs after running into financial difficulties.
Commonwealth prosecutor Paul Huygens told the court Umenyi had travelled from the university to the city of Lagos to inquire about flights to Canada, where his cousin lived.The court was told when he arrived in Lagos he was approached by three men and agreed to become a mule.It is not known how much he was to be paid for his involvement.When questioned by police upon his arrival in Australia, Umenyi initially denied knowing anything about the heroin in his bag.Justice John Byrne sentenced Umenyi to nine-and-a-half years jail with a non-parole period of five years
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