Anxiety At Apapa Customs Over Alleged Drug Export

There was anxiety at Apapa port in Lagos yesterday following allegations that a container-load of sesame seed that was meant for export had drugs concealed in them.
On the strength of the allegation, the Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service had to insist that the 40-foot container of sesame seed in bags be subjected to a more detailed search.
However, after a joint examination was conducted thoroughly by the officers of the command in collaboration with those of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) ‎ and their sniffer dogs, the container was found to be clean.
ShippingPositionDaily gathered exclusively that the Customs headquarters in Abuja had been placed on alert over the alleged export container and the Assistant National Public Relations Officer of customs, Mr. Joseph Attah was at the examination bay yesterday with other officers from Abuja to witness the arrest.
‎A senior officer at the Apapa Command told ShippingPositionDaily under anonymity that her officers were already anxious and worked up to discover the drugs during examination, but that nothing was found.
He told our correspondent that customs had spent the whole of yesterday going over the container with the sniffer dogs that were deployed by the NDLEA.
"We had information on the container, so we called in the NDLEA for joint examination and they came in with their sniffer dogs"
"When you gather intelligence, it could be true and it could be false, but you don't ignore intelligence"
"The sacks were alleged to have contained sesame seeds for export‎, I don't know what it is used for but information we had was that they were going to conceal drugs inside, this was why we held it and we examined it today"
"But with the sniffer dogs, we have certified that there is nothing in the container" the officer told our correspondent.
Also confirming the anxiety at the command to our correspondent, Public Relations Officer of Apapa Command, Mr. Emmanuel Ekpa said it was a suspected export and a joint examination was conducted with NDLEA, but nothing was found.
"We suspected it, but since we don't have the wherewithal to detect it, we invited NDLEA, they came with their sniffer dogs‎"he also stated.
He however said he was not aware of the country the export was destined for.‎ He also did not give further details on the container number and name of the exporter.