Court Jails 2 For Smuggling Rice, Orders Forfeiture Of Boat, 140 Bags

Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced two men, Kappo Waheed and James Oke, to 24 months’ imprisonment each for conspiring to smuggle and unlawfully possessing 140 bags of foreign parboiled rice.

Justice Aluko jailed Waheed and Oke after they pleaded guilty to two counts of a charge filed against them by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit, Zone A.

The prosecutor, Michael Osong, had earlier informed the judge that the convicts were arrested on 23rd July, 2026, one Badagry waterways by personnel of the Nigerian Navy, and subsequently handed over to the NCS for investigation and prosecution.

Osong also claimed that the defendants were found in possession of 140 bags of smuggled foreign parboiled rice, each weighing 50 kilogrammes.

He told the court that the rice was intercepted on the Badagry waterways, a route often used by smugglers to evade security agencies and customs checkpoints.

The prosecutor maintained that the offences violated Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap C38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and Section 234(2) of the Nigeria Customs Service Act, 2023, punishable under Section 234(3) of the same Act.

After reviewing the facts of the case and the tendered exhibits, the prosecution urged the court to convict and sentence the defendants in accordance with their guilty pleas and the law.

The defence counsel, however, pleaded for leniency, urging the court to impose fines instead of custodial sentences.

In his judgment, Justice Aluko sentenced each defendant to 12 months’ imprisonment on each of the two counts, with the sentences to run concurrently, resulting in an overall term of 12 months.

The judge also granted the convicts the option to pay a fine of N1 million each instead of imprisonment.

The court further ordered the forfeiture of the 140 bags of foreign parboiled rice and the fibre boat used to convey the goods to the federal government, after the expiry of the statutory appeal period.

The charge stated that the defendants conspired with others at large on 23 July 2026, along the Badagry waterways in Lagos State, to possess smuggled foreign parboiled rice unlawfully.

They were accused of possessing 140 bags of smuggled foreign parboiled rice, each weighing 50 kilograms, in contravention of Section 234(2) of the Nigeria Customs Service Act, 2023, and punishable under Section 234(3) of the Act.