Three plead not guilty over alleged 184.5kg cocaine shipment to UK
The NDLEA has arraigned businessman Kazeem Michael Afolabi, known as KC Luxury, and two others in Lagos over an alleged attempt to export 184.5 kilogrammes of cocaine to London. They face 22 charges involving trafficking, unlawful export and money laundering, and were remanded in agency custody pending a bail ruling.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arraigned Kazeem Michael Afolabi, popularly known as KC Luxury, and two other men over an alleged attempt to export 184.5 kilogrammes of cocaine from Lagos to the United Kingdom. Afolabi was arraigned alongside Boniface Freeman Ochoche Sule and Ikechukwu Ekugo Patriarch before the Federal High Court in Lagos. The defendants pleaded not guilty to 22 charges involving cocaine trafficking, unlawful export of narcotics and money laundering.
According to an NDLEA statement by spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the defendants allegedly conspired between July 28 and August 1 to send the consignment to London through a courier company. The cocaine was allegedly concealed in five packages bearing airway bill numbers, with Yemi Ejide named as the shipper. The agency said two other suspects, Atandare Oladipupo Oluwarotimi and Latifat Yusuf, were arrested in London.
It alleged that Sule procured Patriarch to facilitate the shipment, while Afolabi used a logistics company employee to process the packages and paid N13.2 million for the shipment. The NDLEA also accused Afolabi of moving billions of naira through company and personal accounts and using some funds to acquire vehicles and landed property. It alleged that he failed to declare assets as required by law.
The agency said its operatives seized the cocaine on August 3 at a DHL facility within the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company premises in Ikeja. It valued the drugs at about N39 billion and described the seizure as its largest cocaine interception through a courier company in Nigeria. The investigation allegedly linked the consignment to a network moving cocaine from South America through Nigeria to the UK, Europe and Asia.
Afolabi was arrested on August 13 at Lagos airport while preparing to travel to Paris. NDLEA said it recovered foreign currency, naira, jewellery and other items from him, and found vehicles and assets during a search of his Banana Island apartment. The court ordered that the three defendants remain in NDLEA custody and adjourned the case for a ruling on their bail application.
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