Nine Ghanaians jailed eight years each for smuggling 10.8 tonnes of cannabis by sea
A Federal High Court in Lagos convicted nine Ghanaians of conspiracy and dealing in cannabis and sentenced each to eight years in prison on 14 October 2022. The 10,843.95 kg haul had been intercepted on the high sea in February by the Civil Defence Corps and handed to the NDLEA for prosecution.
Nine Ghanaians who attempted to smuggle 10,843.95 kg of cannabis into Nigeria through the sea were convicted and sentenced on Friday 14 October 2022.[1][2]Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court, Lagos, convicted them of conspiracy and dealing in cannabis and sentenced each of them to eight years in prison, 72 years in total.[1][2]
The convicts are Victor Wuddah, Freeman Gazul, Adotete Joseph, Sottie Moses, Sottie Stephen, Christian Tette, Kanu Okonipa, Daniel Koyepti and Kanu Natte.[1][2]They had been arraigned under charge number FHC/L/292C/2021 after investigations by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).[1][2]
The nine had first been intercepted by the marine unit of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps on the high sea at about 2.00 a.m. on 20 February and paraded in Lagos with 201 bags of Cannabis Sativa, estimated at over N200 million.[3]The Corps said each bag weighed between 45 and 50 kg, that the men used two big boats to convey the substance from Ghana, and that the suspects and exhibits would be handed to the NDLEA for further tests and prosecution.[3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The February arrest account reported 201 bags at 45 to 50 kg each while the prosecuted court weight was 10,843.95 kg; the report uses the court figure.
Whether the two boats used to convey the cannabis from Ghana were forfeited was not reported.
Justice Akintayo Aluko jailed businesswoman Jumoke Akinusi for 18 months, or a 500,000 naira fine, after she pleaded guilty to exporting 1.10 kilograms of cannabis to Cape Verde. The NDLEA said she sent the drug through Murtala Muhammed International Airport on 14 August 2026.
An estate agent, Salami Abideen Jide, pleaded guilty on 15 October 2026 at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, to procuring and importing 32.2 kilograms of cannabis sativa from Canada, and was and the judge sentenced him to six years in prison, with the option of a six million naira fine.
Charged 1Prison six years (reported as three years on each of two counts, running concurrently)Fine NGN 6,000,000
A Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced 60-year-old Chinese woman Ting Hong Kiong to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty to importing 31 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa. The judge ordered the term to run from her arrest at Murtala Muhammed International Airport on 17 May 2026, and the court imposed no option of a fine.
On 17 March 2026 Justice M.N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court in Kano sentenced Jonathan Nuhu, 45, of Kanke in Plateau State, to 15 years for unlawful possession of cannabis. NDLEA had arrested him on 20 July 2023 near Wudil Bridge with 116 bags; he was already on bail from a 2021 Jigawa sentence for a similar offence.