Man jailed for non-declaration of foreign currencies at Lagos airport

The Federal High Court sitting in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State has convicted and sentenced one Agudosi Christopher Okechukwu to six months imprisonment for non-declaration of foreign currencies at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

Okechukwu was arrested in December 2024 at the Lagos airport by operatives of the Nigerian Customs Service for non-declaration of £8,020 and $704 and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigations.

He was arraigned on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, on a two-count charge bordering on money laundering.

One of the charges read: “That you, Agudosi Christopher Okechukwu, on the 10th day of December, 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, failed to make a declaration of the sum of £8,020 to the Nigerian Customs Service at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 3(5) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

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He pleaded “guilty” to the charges, following which the prosecution counsel, C.C. Okezie, called on an EFCC officer, Abubakar Magaji, to review the facts of the case.

Magaji informed the court that Okechukwu had a total sum of £15,020 and $704 and that while he declared £7,000 he kept back  £8,020 and $704, claiming that he lost his brother and was going to use the undeclared sums to fly his corpse back to the country.

Justice Yellim Bogoro, on Friday, May 2, 2025, convicted and sentenced him to six months imprisonment on both counts with a fine option of N200,000 on each count.

He also forfeited £8,020 and $704 to the federal government.

The Star