NDLEA Intercepts Cocaine Shipment From Brazil, Detains Ship, Crew Members

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a commodity laden vessel, MV Nord Bosporus, marked 9760110 from the port of Santos in Brazil at the Apapa seaport in Lagos with not fewer than 20 kilograms of Class A drug hidden under its cargo.

This is coming barely six months after 10 Thai sailors and their ship were convicted and fined $4.3million for bringing 32.9kg cocaine into Nigeria.

The illicit drug consignment was discovered on board the vessel on Sunday, November 16, 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 an order of court 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, November 20, 2025, granted the application for an initial 14 days detention of the vessel, Capt. Corpus and 19 other crew members.

NDLEA’S spokesperson Femi Babafemi said preliminary investigation revealed that this was the first time the vessel was coming to Nigeria and Africa as it is been largely transporting coal between Colombia and Brazil while Captain Corpus has been barely three months with the ship.

Recall that the agency had in a similar circumstance arrested 10 sailors who are nationals of Thailand on October 13, 2021 on board a vessel – MV Chayanee Naree, for trafficking 32.9 kilograms 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, May 15, 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 cocaine on board MV Nord Bosporus, chairman/chief executive of NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed 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 was not just an operational success but “a clear demonstration of our heightened capacity and unwavering resolve”.

He assured that the anti-narcotic agency will continue to tighten its grips on all entry and exit points, especially at seaports “which transnational criminal organisations have historically attempted to exploit.”