Barely six months after 10 Thai sailors and their ship were convicted and fined $4.3 million for bringing 32.9kg of cocaine into Nigeria, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Friday said it has again intercepted another commodity-laden vessel, MV Nord Bosporus, marked 9760110, from the port of Santos in Brazil, at the Apapa seaport in Lagos, with no less than 20 kilogrammes of the Class A drug buried under its cargo
In a statement released on Friday by the Director, Media & Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, the illicit drug consignment was discovered on board the vessel on Sunday, 16 November 2025, by NDLEA officers, who thereafter took the Master of the ship, Captain Quino Eugene Corpus, and 19 other crew members, all Filipinos, into custody for investigation.
Following the seizure and arrest of the crew members, the Agency filed an application for a court order for the detention of the vessel and the 20 Filipinos on board for further investigation. The motion ex parte in suit number FHC/L/MISC/1306/25 was argued before Justice Musa Kakaki of the Federal High Court, Lagos, who on Thursday, 20 November 2025, granted the application for an initial 14 days’ detention of the vessel, Captain Corpus and the 19 other Filipino crew members.
Preliminary investigation revealed that this was the first time the vessel was coming to Nigeria and Africa, as it had largely been transporting coal between Colombia and Brazil, while Captain Corpus had been with the ship for barely three months.
The Agency had, in a similar circumstance, arrested 10 sailors who are nationals of Thailand on 13 October 2021 on board a vessel named MV Chayanee Naree for trafficking 32.9 kilogrammes of cocaine from Brazil into Nigeria through the Apapa seaport. Nine Nigerian suspects were also arrested along with the Thai crew members. The 10 Thai sailors and the vessel were eventually convicted on Thursday, 15 May 2025, by a Federal High Court in Lagos presided over by Justice Daniel Osiagor, who also fined them $4.3 million.
In his reaction to the latest significant seizure of 20kg of cocaine on board MV Nord Bosporus, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the officers, men and women of the Apapa Strategic Command of the Agency, as well as the Directorate of Seaport Operations, for their vigilance, diligence and professionalism.
Marwa said the cocaine seizure is not just an operational success but “a clear demonstration of our heightened capacity and unwavering resolve”, adding that “we will continue to tighten our grip on all entry and exit points, especially our seaports, which transnational criminal organisations have historically attempted to exploit.”
Follow Us on Facebook – @LadunLiadi; Instagram – @LadunLiadi; Twitter – @LadunLiadi; Youtube – @LadunLiadiTV for updates
No to drugs
SMH