A businessman, Okorie Sunday, arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, with $578,000 in cash, collapsed in court during his trial on Wednesday.
Okorie is being tried at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
He was called into the dock for the charge to be re-read to him but collapsed just as the court registrar was about to read the counts.
News360 Info reported that the suspect was on Tuesday arraigned by the the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, at the same court on four counts of alleged money laundering and currency scam.
He pleaded not guilty.
The court later remanded him in custody and subsequently adjourned until Wednesday for his trial.
However, at the resumption of proceedings on Wednesday, his counsel, Uche Okoronkwo, informed the court that his client would like to change his plea from not guilty to guilty.
Okoronkwo asked the court to allow the charge to be read to Okorie again.
Counsel for the EFCC, Chineye Okezie, confirmed to the court that Okorie had indeed decided to plead guilty.
Justice Dipeolu agreed and ordered counts three and four to be withdrawn. He then asked the court registrar to read counts one and two to the defendant.
As the registrar was about to read the counts, he asked the defendant if he understood English. Okorie did not respond but suddenly slumped and collapsed in the dock.
His wife and daughter, who were in the courtroom, started crying.
As of the time of this report, the defendant has been rushed to the hospital while the matter has been stood down.
News360 Info reported that the Nigerian Customs Service had intercepted the suspect who arrived in Lagos from Johannesburg aboard South African Airways Flight SA60 on March 19, 2025.
At the airport’s currency declaration desk, he declared only $279,000.
However, a routine search uncovered an additional $299,000 hidden in several packages, bringing the total amount to $578,000.
