KC Luxury and Two Others Charged Over Cocaine Shipment

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Friday charged Kazeem Michael Afolabi, known as KC Luxury, and two others at the Federal High Court in Lagos. They face charges for trying to export 184.5 kilogrammes of cocaine to the United Kingdom.

Mr Afolabi was charged alongside Boniface Freeman Ochoche Sule and Ikechukwu Ekugo Patriarch on 22 counts. The charges include cocaine trafficking, unlawful export of narcotics, and money laundering.

They all pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them by trial judge Ayokunle Faji.

The NDLEA claimed in a statement from spokesperson Femi Babafemi that the defendants worked together between 28 July and 1 August to send the cocaine to London via a courier company in Lagos.

The cocaine was allegedly hidden in five packages with Airway Bill Numbers 2079998314, 8224082370, 2079973571, 7181131742, and 2211893902, with Yemi Ejide listed as the shipper.

In the first charge, the agency accused Afolabi, Sule, and Patriarch of conspiring with Atandare Oladipupo Oluwarotimi and Latifat Yusuf to export the cocaine. The NDLEA noted that the agency arrested the two suspects in London.

This alleged offence violates Section 14(b) of the NDLEA Act. The agency also accused Mr Sule of getting Mr Patriarch to help with the shipment.

Mr Afolabi was said to have used a staff member of BOT Express Logistics on Lagos Island to handle the packages. He allegedly paid N13.2 million from a Mallamawa Ventures account with Zenith Bank to the company for the shipment.

The money laundering charges claim that Mr Afolabi moved billions of naira through various company and personal accounts, including those of Mallamawa Ventures, Fateey Man Multi-Purpose Nigeria Limited, Patonifa Limited, Ade-Lak Resources, Holmestas Global Services Limited, and La Capital Enterprises.

The NDLEA said some of the money was used to buy cars and properties to hide the money from the drug trade. He was also accused of not declaring his assets to the agency as required by law.

This case followed the seizure of 184.5kg of cocaine by NDLEA operatives on 3 August at a DHL facility in Ikeja, Lagos. The agency valued the cocaine at around N39 billion and called the seizure its largest cocaine interception through a courier company in Nigeria.

According to the NDLEA, the investigation linked this shipment to an international drug-trafficking gang that moves cocaine from South America through Nigeria to the UK, Europe, and Asia.

NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa described Mr Afolabi as the alleged Nigerian leader of the network. Mr Afolabi was arrested on 13 August at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos while getting ready to travel to Paris, France.

The agency reported it found €7,750, £2,800, and N100,000 in cash, along with jewellery and other items from him. They also found luxury cars and other assets during a search of his apartment in Banana Island.

Mr Afolabi had spent more than a month in NDLEA custody before the arraignment on Friday. On 20 August, another judge, Akintayo Aluko, allowed the agency to keep him in custody for 30 days while it continued its investigation.

The court also ordered that funds in his Providus Bank account and other accounts linked to his Bank Verification Number be preserved until the investigation or prosecution is finished.

Mr Afolabi challenged this order through his lawyer, Abdulakeem Labi-Lawal, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The defence argued that the court should not prolong the detention of someone not yet charged. They pointed to Sections 293 to 299 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, especially Section 296(1), and argued that the detention violated Mr Afolabi’s right to personal freedom.

The NDLEA opposed this and said the 20 August order was to help them finish their investigation and was not a remand order under the ACJA. Mr Aluko dismissed the defence's application on 17 September.

The judge stated that the ACJA rules cited by the defence did not apply here. He also said there was enough evidence to suggest a drug-related crime and justified temporarily restricting Mr Afolabi’s freedom under Section 35 of the Constitution.

Mr Afolabi has also filed a fundamental-rights suit before another judge, Friday Ogazi, challenging his ongoing detention. He wants his release or bail until any criminal charges are filed, along with damages over how he was arrested, detained, and the sharing of his photos and videos while in NDLEA custody.

During Friday's hearing, NDLEA prosecutor Abu Ibrahim opposed the bail request. He asked the court to keep the defendants in custody, stressing the seriousness of the charges. Mr Faji ordered that the three defendants be held in NDLEA custody. The court postponed the case to rule on their bail application.