Court Jails 70-Year-Old Freight Agent For Drug Trafficking

Justice Musa Kakaki of the Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced a 70-year-old clearing agent, Ayo Ajewole, to six years in prison for trafficking over 1,580.40 kilograms of prohibited hard drugs.

Justice Kakaki jailed Ajewole after he pleaded guilty to a six-count charge of drug trafficking brought against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Ajewole and his alleged co-conspirator, Indian national Gupta Ravi Kumar, were arraigned before the court in November 2025 on a six-count charge of conspiracy, unlawful dealing, and drug trafficking by the NDLEA.

The NDLEA had accused them of allegedly attempting to import 779.10 kilograms of Tapentadol Royal 225mg and Tramadol, a Narcotic Analgesic similar to cocaine, LSD, and heroin.

The prosecutor, Abu Ibrahim, had told the judge that the convict and the foreigner were arrested on September 11, 2025, during an examination of cargo from Ethiopian Airlines at Skyway Handling Company (SAHCO) Import Shed at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

Ibrahim had also claimed that Ajewole, a freight agent, procured Ogunlana Akeem of Akman Global Investment & Logistics (now at large) to import the drugs.

The two men were also accused of conspiring to unlawfully bring prohibited drugs into Nigeria, with the assistance of Sumit Rekhit of Flexi World Logistics in Gurugram, India, using waybill numbers 071-58233792 and 071-59233792.

The prosecutor had stated that their illegal actions violated sections 14(b), 21(2)(d), and 11(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Authority Cap. N30, Laws of Nigeria, 2004.

Initially, both suspects pleaded not guilty, but during the proceedings of February 24, Ajewole, through his lawyer Babatunde Adeoye (SAN), changed his plea to guilty after the charges were reread to him.

The development led the prosecutor to review the facts of the case, present exhibits and urged the court to convict Ajewole and sentence him accordingly.

Justice Kakaki found him guilty on all counts and, after the defence’s pleas for mercy, sentenced him to one year’s imprisonment on each count.

The judge also ordered the convict to pay a fine of N1 million each on counts one and three, and N2 million each on counts two, four, five and six, ttotallingN10 million, payable concurrently and consecutively.

The sentences are to run from September 11, 2025, the date of arrest.

The trial of Kumar was adjourned to October 19, 2026.