By Oluyinka Onigbinde
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa command said on Friday that it intercepted a 20-foot container load of tramadol.
According to the Customs Controller in charge of Apapa; Comptroller Malanta Yusuf, drug came from Pakistan.
He said the container was loaded with 81 cartons of 250mg and 69 cartons of 225mg of tramadol tablets (each carton contains 72 rolls, each roll contains 10 packs, each pack contains 10 sachets, and each sachet contains 10 tablets; totaling 150 cartons of tramadol tablets.
Yusuf, while handing over the seizure to the Commander of Narcotics, Ameh Inalegwu of Apapa Special Area Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for further agency action, said the command will not rest on its oars, vowing that the illicit importation will have no way at the Apapa command or any other command.
Responding, the commander of Narcotics NDLEA Apapa, Commander Inalegwu commended the CAC Apapa for the seizure.
He informed that as a result of the sterling report of the command, the Chairman of NDLEA; Brigadier General Buba Marwa, has assured that he will go to any length to ensure that the Apapa Customs Controller gets commended.
He informed that the street value of the seized tramadol is over N6 billion, adding that a carton of the tramadol will not go for less than N20 million
“You may not appreciate what this seizure means to the Nigeria society, the legally accepted mill for tramadol is 50ml, but you have inside one tablet 250ml to be taken by one individual, under the influence of this everybody becomes vulnerable.
“So we are asking for a joint approach, a whole society approach to make Nigeria a better nation.
“The Apapa command is worthy of emulation and I call on all other formations; let them imbibe the spirit that is ongoing in Apapa, kudos to the CAC and congratulations to the customs” he said.
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When asked when the agency will destroy the seized tramadol and those that have been seized in recent past, he said the process for destroying the seized tramadol is in progress, stating that NDLEA still need to get to the Federal High Court to get a permit to destroy it.
He however assured that in the next one month, the NDLEA chairman will be in Lagos to destroy the seized drugs
The commander said, despite the avalanche of drug seizures made in recent time, Nigeria still remains a transit country for drugs, even though he said a domestic market has emerged, he informed that a report on Nigeria for 2018 revealed that about 14.4 million Nigerians are involved in drug use challenges.
He said while some will go out, some will be consumed in the country.
Speaking on how the command has been able to achieve the feat in seizures of illegal drugs, the CAC Apapa said synergy with other stakeholders is the magic wand responsible for the feat.
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