Lagos Court Slams $6m Fine on Indian Sailors, Vessel for Cocaine Smuggling

In a landmark judgment, a Federal High Court in Lagos has found 11 Indian sailors and their vessel, MV Aruna Hulya, guilty of smuggling 31.5 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria. The court, presided over by Justice Joseph Aneke, imposed fines and restitution totalling about $6 million on the convicts. This development comes six months after operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested the crew and seized the vessel at the Apapa seaport in Lagos. The illicit drug was discovered on January 2, 2026, during an inspection of the vessel at the GDNL terminal, Apapa Port. The master of the vessel, Sharma Shashi Bhushan, and 10 other crew members were arraigned before the court on a two-count charge. The other defendants are 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. According to the NDLEA's spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the court adopted a plea bargain agreement entered into by the prosecution and the defence, convicting all 12 defendants under Section 25 of the NDLEA Act. Each of the defendants was ordered to pay a fine of N100,000, while the vessel was ordered to pay restitution of $5.3 million to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The court also directed the vessel's three principal officers to pay restitution of $100,000 each to the Federal Government, and the remaining crew members to pay $50,000 each. Reacting to the judgment, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), described the conviction as a strong warning to international drug trafficking syndicates. He stated that the judgment demonstrated that Nigeria would no longer serve as a transit route for illicit drugs. Marwa commended officers of the agency's Apapa Strategic Command for detecting the cocaine consignment and praised the Directorate of Prosecution and Legal Services for securing the conviction.