Lagos court fines ship, 10 sailors $6m for cocaine smuggling —NDLEA
A Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted 10 Filipino sailors and their merchant vessel, MV Nord Bosporus, imposing fines totalling Six Million US Dollars ($6 million) and One Million One Hundred Thousand Naira (₦1.1 million) following their arrest for importing 20 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria.
As reported by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in a press release on Wednesday, signed by Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the arrests were made at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on November 16, 2025.
The seizure prompted a four-count criminal charge in suit number FHC/L/1232C/25 at the Federal High Court 2, Lagos, filed by a team of NDLEA prosecutors led by the Agency’s Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, Theresa Asuquo.
The vessel and its crew—“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”—pled guilty under a plea bargain agreement.
Delivering his ruling on Wednesday, Justice Ayokunle Faji found MV Nord Bosporus guilty of offences 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 Five Million Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand US dollars to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The three principal officers, listed as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants, were each fined ₦100,000 and ordered to pay $100,000 restitution.
