A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has found 10 Filipino sailors and their vessel, MV Nord Bosporus, guilty, handing down combined fines of Six Million US Dollars ($6 million) and One Million One Hundred Thousand Naira (₦1.1 million) after they were apprehended for bringing 20 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria.
According to a statement released on Wednesday by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, and signed by its Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the suspects were arrested on November 16, 2025, at the Apapa seaport in Lagos.
Following the seizure, a four-count charge was filed at the Federal High Court 2, Lagos, under suit number FHC/L/1232C/25 by NDLEA prosecutors led by the Agency’s Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, Theresa Asuquo.
The ship 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”—admitted guilt through a plea bargain.
In his judgment on Wednesday, Justice Ayokunle Faji ruled that MV Nord Bosporus was culpable 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 senior officers, identified as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants, were each fined ₦100,000 and instructed to pay $100,000 in restitution.
The other crew members, listed as defendants five to eleven, were each fined ₦100,000 and directed to pay $50,000 in restitution, bringing the total penalties and restitution to $6 million and ₦1.1 million.
Responding to the verdict, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), called the outcome “a resounding victory for the rule of law and a powerful testament to the renewed vigour of the NDLEA in our mission to rid Nigeria of illicit drugs.”
He added: “The imposition of a $6 million fine equally serves as a stark, expensive lesson to international drug cartels and their local collaborators that Nigeria’s territorial waters are no longer a playground for the illicit narcotics trade.”
Marwa further emphasised: “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. We have moved beyond mere seizures; we are now hitting the syndicates where it hurts most, their pockets and their operational assets.”
He commended the Apapa Strategic Command of the NDLEA for uncovering the concealed cocaine in the cargo and noted that the success, alongside similar rulings such as that involving MV Chayanee Naree, “shows that our ‘back-to-back’ strategy is yielding concrete results.”
Marwa also applauded the Directorate of Prosecution and Legal Services and the judiciary for their “accelerated hearing of this case,” adding that “this synergy between the NDLEA and the courts is the nightmare of every drug baron, and we shall continue to strengthen this partnership until the last drug supply chain in Nigeria is dismantled.”
He concluded by reaffirming the agency’s dedication to protecting Nigeria’s youth and national security: “We are not just fighting a crime; we are defending the future of our youth and the security of our nation, and in doing this, our intelligence networks are getting wider, our technology sharper, and our resolve is unbreakable.”