The federal high court in Lagos has convicted 10 Filipino sailors and their merchant vessel of trafficking 20 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Apapa seaport.
The sailors were arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in November 2025 at Apapa seaport.
The vessel, MV Nord Bosporus, with registration number 9760110, arrived in Nigeria from Santos in Brazil.
The anti-drug agency had disclosed that its officers discovered the “Class A drug” buried under the ship’s cargo on Sunday, November 16, 2025.
THE CASE
The NDLEA arraigned the sailors and the vessel on a four-count charge.
The defendants are Eugene Quinos Corpuz; Mark Joseph Jardiniano; Alexis Navidad Evarrola; Francis Gerard Niones Carpio; Franz Jude Mayran; Mahinay Junniel Lagura; Mario Ganiban Malvar; Hormachuelos Lordito Guivencan; Joshua Emmanuel Hufanda; and Edwin Baltazar Reyes.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the defendants pleaded guilty to the charges and entered a plea bargain agreement.
In his judgment, Ayokunle Faji, the trial judge, found the vessel guilty for an offence under section 25 of the NDLEA Act.
The judge ordered the vessel to pay the sum of N100,000 penalty for the offence and a restitution in the sum of N5.3 million to the federal government.
The judge convicted three principal officers of the vessel who are the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants. They were asked to pay N100,000 each and a restitution of $100,000 each to the federal government.
After conviction, the judge ordered the 5th to 11th defendants to pay N100,000 each in addition to a restitution of $50,000 each.
According to the NDLEA, the total money to be paid to the federal government by the vessel and the 10 sailors is $6 million and N1.1million as restitution and penalty.
Reacting to the judgment, Mohammed Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, said the conviction of the vessel and its crew members is a “lesson to international drug cartels and their local collaborators that Nigeria’s territorial waters are no longer a playground for the illicit narcotics trade”.
“Let this judgment be an unambiguous signal to every shipping line, vessel owner, and sailor worldwide that if you turn your ships into floating warehouses for illicit drugs, you will not only lose your freedom but also your assets,” Marwa said.
“We have moved beyond mere seizures; we are now hitting the syndicates where it hurts most, their pockets and their operational assets.”
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