COURT FINES INDIAN CREW, VESSEL $6M OVER 31.5KG COCAINE SHIPMENT INTO NIGERIA

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BY JENN NOMAMIUKOR

The federal high court in Lagos has found 11 Indian sailors and their ship, the MV Aruna Hulya, guilty and ordered them to pay $6 million in fines and compensation. This was because they brought 31.5 kilograms of cocaine into the country.

A statement from Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), said the sailors and their ship were caught after officials found the cocaine hidden in hatch three of the vessel at the GDNL terminal in Apapa on January 2.

Babafemi noted that the vessel had arrived in Nigeria from the Marshall Islands.

He said Sharma Bhushan, the ship’s master, alongside 10 crew members — Bharati Kumar, Nevage Suresh, Pandey Prashant, Nuttu Anand, Akash Babu, Nilesh Bhalerad, Melethil Rahman, Barla Krishna, Prabhasukhan Singu and Jai Parkash — were subsequently arraigned.

According to the NDLEA, Joseph Aneke, the trial judge delivered the judgment on Thursday after considering plea bargain agreements filed by the prosecution and defence.

Babafemi said the court convicted all 12 defendants under section 25 of the NDLEA Act and imposed a fine of N100,000 on each of them.

According to him, Aneke also ordered the vessel, listed as the first defendant in the suit, to pay restitution of $5.3 million, or its naira equivalent, to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He said the court also directed three principal officers of the vessel — Sharma Shashi Bhushan, Nilesh Mukuno Bhalerad and Melethil Insaf Rahman — to pay restitution of $100,000 each.

The remaining crew members were ordered to pay restitution of $50,000 each.

Reacting to the judgment, Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman and chief executive officer, said the conviction sends a clear message to international drug trafficking syndicates that Nigeria will not serve as a transit route for illicit substances.

“This judgment is the third of its kind in recent times, following the convictions of foreign nationals and vessels on similar charges,” he said.