A Nigerian court has convicted 11 Indian sailors and their vessel over the trafficking of cocaine into the country, imposing fines totaling $6 million, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said on Thursday. https://t.co/WxwmEQT1QZ
31.5kg cocaine trafficking: 11 Indian sailors, ship convicted, fined $6million
. Nigeria no longer a safe corridor for cocaine or any other illicit substance, Marwa warns drug cartels
Barely six months after their arrest by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for importing 31.5 kilograms of cocaine from Marshall Islands into Nigeria through the Apapa seaport in Lagos, 11 Indian sailors and their merchant vessel marked MV Aruna Hulya have been convicted and fined a total of Six Million US Dollars ($6million) by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The Agency took into custody the Indian crew members and their merchant vessel, MV Aruna Hulya, following the discovery of 31.5 kilograms of cocaine in hatch 3 of the ship by NDLEA operatives at the GDNL terminal, Apapa port Lagos on Friday 2nd January 2026.
The Master of the Vessel, Sharma Shashi Bhushan and 10 other crew members, namely: Bharati Manoj Kumar; Nevage Sandesh Suresh; Pandey Prashant; Nuttu Anand; Akash Babu; Nilesh Mukuno Bhalerad; Melethil Insaf Rahman; Barla Chantanya Krishna; Prabhasukhan Singu; and Jai Parkash were eventually arraigned on two counts charge in suit number
FHC/ L/56C/2026 before Joseph Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos.
After months before the court, the trial judge on Thursday 11th June 2026 delivered his ruling on plea bargain terms filed by the prosecution and defence in the case. As a result, all 12 defendants were convicted under Section 25 of the NDLEA Act and sentenced to pay the sum of 100,000 Naira each which is the penalty for the offence under the Act. In addition, the 1st defendant, which is the vessel, is to pay restitution to the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the sum of Five Million Three Hundred Thousand US dollars ($5,300,000) or its equivalent in Naira.
The three principal officers of the vessel who are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants, namely: Sharma Shashi Bhushan; Nilesh Mukuno Bhalerad; and Melethil Insaf Rahman are also to pay restitution to the Federal Government in the sum of 100,000 US dollars each, while
other crew members, the 5th to 12th defendants are to pay their restitution in the sum of 50, 000 US dollars each.
Reacting to the landmark judgement, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) noted that the conviction of the vessel and its crew members sends a resounding message to every drug trafficking network in the world that “Nigeria is no longer a safe corridor for cocaine or any other illicit substance.”
According to him, “This judgment is the third of its kind in recent times, following the convictions of foreign nationals and vessels on similar charges. Let it be known that these are not coincidences, they are the direct result of deliberate, intelligence-led operations by our officers who remain vigilant at every port of entry.
“The NDLEA will not relent. Whether you come by air, land, or sea; whether you are a Nigerian or a foreign national, if you attempt to use our waters as a narcotics highway, you will face the full weight of Nigerian law. Our courts have spoken, and we will continue to give them reason to speak. The war against drug trafficking is one we are winning and we intend to keep it that way.”
He commended the officers, men and women of the Apapa Strategic Command of the Agency for their vigilance in identifying the cocaine consignment buried deep within the cargo of a massive commodity vessel. He specifically expressed appreciation to the Agency’s Directorate of Prosecution and Legal Services for their diligence in the prosecution of the case.
Femi Babafemi
Director, Media & Advocacy
NDLEA Headquarters Abuja
Thursday 11th June 2026
🏆 Referee announced for 2026 #SuperCup!
We're pleased to share that Somali referee Omar Artan will officiate the highly anticipated match between PSG and Aston Villa in Salzburg.
#BreakingNews
Emaar Properties on Thursday announced that it will launch a mega masterplan development worth Dh200 billion, with a gross floor area of more than 4.5 million square metres.
https://t.co/t5rOcgtB01
Brighton & Hove Albion have agreed the signing of winger Zadok Yohanna from AIK Stockholm on a five-year contract until June 2031 for undisclosed terms. ✍️
Brighton’s new signing from Nigeria. So excited about Zadok Yohanna. Been watching him for a while now
The 18yr old standout performance for AlK including scoring the decisive winner
Here’s a 6min of his performance. Another £100m player in the making 🇳🇬
Many Nigerian hunters are just decimating our wildlife without caution. To make matters worse, they upload the videos and people hail them. Now, they have introduced a new level of madness. They invite Europeans and Americans tourists to go on hunting expeditions with them. The questions remain
1. Are these huntings carried out in public or private properties
2. Does the government know that these people are coming into the country for reckless and undocumented trophy hunting?
Nigerians do not understand the gravity of the dispute between South Africa’s Optasia and Nigeria’s FCCPC, even though I have repeatedly written about it.
Let me give a summary breakdown!
Optasia is a global conglomerate, listed on the South African Stock Market. In Nigeria, it operates as Nairatime.
It is the only company in Nigeria that powers the platform MTN, Airtel, and other telecoms companies in Nigeria use to lend airtime and data to Nigerians. It takes all the profits and flies the money to South Africa, where it’s based.
Since Telecoms companies like MTN and Airtel began lending airtime and data to Nigerians, their transactions have been unregulated, unlike in other countries.
So, earlier last year, the FCCPC, the federal authority in charge of regulating the relationship between companies and customers in Nigeria, moved to regulate airtime and data lending by the telecoms companies.
The regulation included opening up the market to other players, especially Nigerian-owned companies. It mandated that Optasia will no longer be the only company that will provide MTN, Airtel, and co the platform to power their airtime and data lending services.
The regulation provides that the telecoms companies must do business with or employ the services of at least one Nigerian-owned company.
Immediately the regulation came out, Optasia, the South African company, seeing that it would crush its monopoly, moved into full swing to stop it. They ensured that the regulation, which has been pending since July 2025 till now, is not implemented
When Optasia saw that its efforts were not yielding, it rushed to obtain a dubious court order from a Nigerian court stopping the FCCPC from proceeding to implement the regulation. Can you imagine that?
Well, I was one of the voices who got wind of the case and stood against Optasia’s effrontery and disrespectful audacity. I wrote a couple of times to educate Nigerians on the issue.
Finally, and fortunately, the FCCPC has risen to the occasion and is proceeding with implementing the regulation, after appealing the dubious court order that Optasia obtained from one of our courts.
This is the situation! For the corruption that has eaten so deeply into our system, Optasia had the guts to reject and fight to stop a regulation by a Nigerian authority.
Meanwhile, in the over 30 countries where it operates, including South Africa where it is listed, Optasia obeys the regulations of the country, even to the letter!✍️
There's power in social media!
Following the push we made in a couple of months now, particularly two days, challenging Optasia, a South African-based company, for stopping the FCCPC regulation that favours Nigerian Fintechs in Nigeria’s telecoms sector, the FCCPC has now shortlisted 9 Nigerian-owned companies to break Optasia’s monopoly in the telecoms sector.
I will go ahead to research and find out more about the 9 companies. But if you know any of them, share with me in the comments.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s here:
I’m proud to announce that 'Nexus' will be my upcoming hybrid feature film.
Here is a 5-minute teaser, made by 3 people in 2 weeks.
Made with Dreamina AI using Octo & Dreamina Seedance 2.0, full workflow coming soon
I made a video about the people who are dropping account details from giveaways from bandits and some people are defending it, citing poverty. If poverty can push you into doing that, then, that poverty can surely push you into killing people or becoming a bandit yourself. The poverty can push you into harbouring criminals for a few coins or even giving out information to kidnappers.
There has to be a limit one cannot cross for money, no matter how poor they are.
With the things I've been hearing directly from some young couples (married for 5 to 12 years), children are the ones holding some marriages together. Without their concern for the children, they would have gone their separate ways.