Court Fines Filipino Crew and Vessel $6m Over Cocaine Smuggling

By Zainab Uzomah|Abuja

A Nigerian court has convicted 10 Filipino sailors and their vessel, MV Nord Bosporus, for trafficking 20 kilograms of cocaine into the country, imposing fines and restitution totalling $6m and 1.1m naira.

In a statement signed by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the agency said the suspects were arrested at Apapa seaport in Lagos on 16 November 2025 after officers discovered the drugs on board the vessel arriving from Santos, Brazil.

The defendants pleaded guilty under a plea bargain agreement in a four-count charge filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos. Delivering judgment on 18 March 2026, Justice Ayokunle Faji found the vessel guilty under the NDLEA Act and ordered it to pay $5.35m in restitution and a 100,000 naira fine.

Three senior crew members were each fined 100,000 naira and ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution, while the remaining seven sailors were fined the same amount and ordered to pay$50,000 each.

The total penalties imposed on the vessel and its crew amount to $6m and 1.1m naira.

Reacting to the ruling, NDLEA Chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa said the conviction underscored the agency’s intensified efforts against drug trafficking, warning that Nigeria’s territorial waters were no longer accessible to international drug cartels.