UK jails 3 Nigerians who funded ‘Black Axe’ for years

Three siblings who were working directly for the leader of a notorious Nigerian crime gang have been jailed for a total of 16 years after laundering nearly £1m for the Black Axe organised crime syndicate through UK bank accounts.

Okemiorukaye Nakpodia, 56, was found guilty of conspiracy to money launder at Woolwich Crown Court on 8 May. Esther Nakpodia, 35, Unuakpotovo Nakpodia, 46, both pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

They laundered the proceeds of hundreds of frauds between 2007 and 2015. Police identified 174 suspicious transactions entering bank accounts.


Money from a number of the victims of the original frauds ended up in the defendants’ bank accounts and was then laundered by the Nakpodias.

The leader of the Black Axe, Augustus Bemigho-Eyeoyibo, is the brother-in-law of the three defendants. Black Axe is a banned organisation in Nigeria and has been linked to decades of murders, rapes, extortion and drug dealing in Nigeria and across the world, with members allegedly swearing a ‘blood oath’ to join.

Today at Woolwich Crown Court Unuakpotovo Nakpodia has been jailed for seven years and seven months, Okemiorukaye Nakpodia has been jailed for six years and six months, while Esther Nakpodia has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison.