A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has found eleven Indian sailors and their merchant vessel, MV Aruna Hulya guilty of importing 31.5 kilogrammes of cocaine into Nigeria through the Apapa Seaport in Lagos.
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested the crew members and impounded the vessel after the discovery of the illicit drug on board barely six months before the conviction, it was reported.
The sailors and the vessel were also fined and ordered to pay $6m restitution to the Federal Government.
NDLEA operatives discovered 31.5kg of cocaine in hatch 3 of the merchant vessel at the GDNL Terminal, Apapa Port, Lagos, on January 2, 2026.
The consignment was said to have been brought into Nigeria by a vessel known as MV Aruna Hulya from the Marshall Islands.
After the seizure, the agency took the vessel and its Indian crew members into custody.
Those arrested included Master of the vessel Sharma Shashi Bhushan and 10 crew members, 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.
They were subsequently arraigned on a two-count charge before Justice Joseph Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos in suit number FHC/L/56C/2026.
On Thursday, June 11, 2026, after months of proceedings, the trial judge gave his decision on the plea bargain terms filed by the prosecution and the defence.
The court found all the 12 defendants guilty under Section 25 of the NDLEA Act and sentenced each of them to pay the sum of ₦100,000 which is the prescribed penalty for the offence under the law.
In addition to the fines, the court also ordered the first defendant, the vessel, to pay restitution to the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the sum of $5.3 million or its equivalent in Naira.
The second, third and fourth defendants, who were the vessel’s three key officers, were also ordered to pay $100,000 each in restitution to the Federal Government.
They are Shashi Bhushan Sharma, Mukuno Bhalerad Nilesh and Rahman Melethil Insaf.
The remaining crew members, in the fifth to 12th defendants’ list, were each ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution.
Reacting to the judgement, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), said the conviction sent a strong warning to international drug trafficking syndicates.
Marwa in a statement issued on Thursday by the Director of Media and Advocacy at the NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, said the judgement was a reflection of Nigeria’s intolerance for the use of its ports or waters for narcotics trafficking.
The vessel and its crew members were convicted and “sent 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,” he said.
The case, he said, was another sign of the agency’s growing success in tracking and prosecuting drug traffickers at the nation’s entry points.
“This is the third such judgment recently, the convictions of foreign nationals and vessels on similar charges. “These are not coincidences, these are the direct result of deliberate, intelligence-led operations by our officers who remain vigilant at every port of entry,” said Marwa.
He warned the agency would continue to go after drug traffickers no matter their nationality or the route by which illicit substances were moved into the country.
The NDLEA will not relent, he said. “Whatever means you use to come by air, land or sea; whether you are a Nigerian or a foreigner, if you attempt to use our waters as a narcotics highway, you will be met with the full weight of Nigerian law. Our courts have spoken and we shall give them cause to speak again.” “We are winning the war against drug trafficking and that’s how we want to keep it.”
Marwa praised the officers of the Apapa Strategic Command of the agency for their alertness in discovering the cocaine consignment, which he said was hidden deep in the cargo of a large commodity vessel.
He also commended the Directorate of Prosecution and Legal Services of the agency for their diligence in handling the case and securing the conviction.
The NDLEA chairman said the agency would continue to intensify intelligence-led operations at seaports, airports and land borders to prevent Nigeria from becoming a route for illicit drug trafficking.
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