MAN ARRESTED WITH $578,000 AT LAGOS AIRPORT COLLAPSES IN COURT

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Okorie Sunday, a businessman who was detained with $578,000 in cash at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, passed out in court on Wednesday while he was on trial.

Okorie’s trial is taking place at Lagos’ Federal High Court.

The court registrar was about to read the counts when he fainted in the dock after being called in to have the charge read to him again.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, arraigned the suspect on four charges of suspected currency scam and money laundering before the same court on Tuesday.

He entered a not guilty plea.

His trial was postponed until Wednesday after the court remanded him in jail.

However, his attorney, Uche Okoronkwo, told the court that his client would like to modify his plea from not guilty to guilty when the case resumed on Wednesday.

Okoronkwo requested that the court permit Okorie to be read the charge once more.

Chineye Okezie, the EFCC’s counsel, assured the court that Okorie had made the decision to enter a guilty plea.

In agreement, Justice Dipeolu issued an order to remove counts three and four. He then requested that the defendant be read counts one and two by the court registrar.

The registrar questioned the defendant if he understood English before reading the counts. Without replying, Okorie abruptly sagged and fell in the dock.

In the courtroom, his wife and children began to cry.

While the case has been halted, the defendant has been taken to the hospital as of the time of this report.

The suspect was apprehended by the Nigerian Customs Service on March 19, 2025, when he boarded South African Airways Flight SA60 from Johannesburg to Lagos.

He merely declared $279,000 at the airport’s currency declaration station.

But a regular search turned yet another $299,000 concealed in multiple shipments, making the total $578,000.