Court Jails Businessman Over Undeclared $49,000, Forfeits Money To FG

Justice Dehinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court, sitting as vacation judge in Lagos, on Tuesday convicted and sentenced a businessman, Duru Ikechukwu Damian, to three months’ imprisonment for failing to declare the sum of $49,000 to the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

The conviction followed Damian’s guilty plea to a one-count charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

EFCC counsel, Deborah Adamu-Eteh, led the Commission’s investigating officer, Muhammad Adamu Timta, to review the facts of the case after the defendant admitted guilt.

Timta informed the court that the defendant was handed over to the EFCC by the Nigerian Customs Service and that an investigation was immediately launched.

“We found out that the sum of $49,000 was found on the defendant without declaration at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, on the 11th of August, during inwards clearance to the United States of America,” he told the court.

The prosecution tendered the recovered money as an exhibit, which the court admitted without objection.

In his judgment, Justice Dipeolu sentenced Damian to three months’ imprisonment and ordered the forfeiture of the entire $49,000 to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The one-count charge against him reads “That you, Duru Ikechukwu Damian, on the 11th day of August, 2025, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, failed to make a declaration of the sum of $49,000 (Forty-Nine Thousand United States Dollars) to the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 3(5) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”