As agency files 22-count charge over UK-bound drug haul

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Friday, arraigned Afolabi Kazeem Michael, popularly known as KC Luxury, and two other accomplices, Boniface Freeman Ochoche Sule and Ikechukwu Ekugo Patriarch, before Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on a 22-count charge bordering on cocaine trafficking, illegal export of narcotics and money laundering.

The defendants, who were accused of conspiring between July 28 and August 1, 2026 to export 184.5 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in five consignments through a Lagos-based logistics firm to London, United Kingdom, pleaded not guilty to all counts when the charges were read to them.

Count one of the charge sheet, marked FHC/LAG/CR/755/2026, accused Afolabi, alongside Boniface and Ikechukwu, of conspiring with Atandare Oladipupo Oluwarotimi and Latifat Yusuf, already arrested in London in connection with the same case, to export the narcotic drug using consignments bearing Airway Bill Numbers 2079998314, 8224082370, 2079973571, 7181131742 and 2211893902, under the shipper’s name Yemi Ejide.

Other counts detailed how Boniface procured Ikechukwu to facilitate the export while Afolabi is accused of procuring a staff member of BOT Express Logistics on Lagos Island to process the illicit consignment and of unlawfully possessing the cocaine ahead of export.

The charge sheet further linked Afolabi to the payment of ₦13.2 million from a Mallamawa Ventures Zenith Bank account to BOT Express Logistics as consideration for the shipment.

On the financial trail, no fewer than 16 counts bordering on money laundering, contrary to the Money Laundering (Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022, accuse Afolabi of funnelling several billions of naira through a web of companies and personal accounts, including Mallamawa Ventures, Fateey Man Multi-Purpose Nig. Ltd, Patonifa Ltd, Ade-Lak Resources, Holmestas Global Services Limited, La Capital Enterprises and others, with the funds used, among other things, to acquire motor vehicles and various landed properties, in a bid to conceal the true origin of the proceeds of the illicit trade. He is also alleged to have failed to declare his assets to the agency as required by law.

After the not-guilty plea was entered and their bail application argued, the NDLEA prosecutor, Abu Ibrahim, who opposed the bail application prayed the court to remand the defendants in a correctional facility pending trial, citing the gravity of the offences.

Justice Faji, thereafter, ordered that the defendants be remanded in the agency’s facility, and adjourned the matter till October 4, 2026 for ruling on the application.

Afolabi, also known as KayCee Luxury, KayCee Lux, KC, Mr. Luxury, Yemi Ejide, who paraded himself online as a luxury goods dealer and lifestyle influencer, was arrested by NDLEA operatives on the night of August 13, 2026 as he attempted to flee Nigeria on a business-class flight to Paris from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, following the interception of the 184.5kg cocaine consignment estimated to be worth about N39 billion.

A subsequent search on him and his Banana Island apartment led to the recovery of exotic vehicles, foreign currency and jewellery believed to be proceeds of the illicit trade.