10 Filipino sailors convicted, fined $6m for cocaine trafficking

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has convicted 10 Filipino sailors and their merchant vessel marked MV Nord Bosporus, following their arrest by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly importing 20 kilograms of cocaine from Santos in Brazil into Nigeria through the Apapa seaport in Lagos State.

The sailors were also fined $6 million as well as another penalty of N1.1 million by the court.

The Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who made this known via a statement issued on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, disclosed that the merchant vessel and its crew members were arrested following the seizure of 20 kilograms of cocaine on board the ship at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on November 16, 2025.

Babafemi said a four-count criminal charge was subsequently filed against them in suit number FHC/L/1232C/25 at the Federal High Court in Lagos by a team of NDLEA prosecutors led by the agency’s Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, Theresa Asuquo.

The vessel and its Filipino sailors – 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 – decided to plead guilty and enter a plea bargain agreement.

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Delivering his ruling on the plea bargain agreement on Wednesday, the presiding judge judge, Justice Ayokunle Faji, found MV Nord Bosporus 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 $5.3 million to the federal government.

The three principal officers of the vessel who are the second, third, and fourth defendants in the case were also convicted and sentenced to pay the sum of N100,000 each and a restitution of $100,000 each to the federal government, while the fifth to eleventh defendants were equally convicted and sentenced to pay N100,000 each in addition to a restitution of $50,000.

This brings the total fine to be paid to the federal government by the vessel and its 10 sailors to $6 million and N1.1 million as restitution and penalty, respectively.

Reacting to the judgement, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), noted that the conviction of the vessel and its crew members “is 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.”

The Star