Lagos court keeps KC Luxury in custody — Premium Times Nigeria
The Federal High Court in Lagos, Nigeria, has upheld the order for the 30-day detention of Kazim Michael Afolabi, known as KC Luxury. According to Premium Times Nigeria, Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is investigating his alleged involvement in the illegal trafficking of 184.5 kg of cocaine.
On September 17, Justice Akintayo Aluko dismissed the defence’s application to set aside the order for Afolabi’s detention. The court ruled that the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act cited by Afolabi’s lawyer, Abdulakeem Labi-Lawal, do not apply to the circumstances of this case.
Positions of the parties
The defence argued that the court had no authority to extend the client’s detention because he had not yet been charged. The lawyer also claimed that keeping Afolabi in custody during the investigation violates his constitutional right to personal liberty.
NDLEA representative Abu Ibrahim said the defence had mistakenly described the August 20 order as a remand decision under the procedure provided for by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. According to him, the court allowed the agency to extend the detention in order to complete the investigation into the alleged drug crime.
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Details of the investigation
According to the NDLEA, Afolabi was arrested on August 13 in the departure hall of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos as he was preparing to fly to Paris. The arrest followed the agency’s August 3 seizure of 184.5 kg of cocaine at a DHL facility on the premises of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company in Ikeja.
The NDLEA valued the shipment at approximately 39 billion naira and called it the largest cocaine interception through a courier company in Nigeria. The agency also said the investigation linked the cargo to an international network that allegedly transported cocaine from South America through Nigeria to the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.
Justice Aluko noted that the materials submitted by the NDLEA indicate reasonable suspicion of a drug-related offence. In the August 20 order, the court also ordered that funds in Afolabi’s Providus Bank account and other accounts linked to his bank verification number be preserved until the completion of the investigation or prosecution.
