The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Apapa Area Command on Thursday said it intercepted another 554 cartons of tramadol, 989 cartons of unregistered pharmaceutical products and other prohibited items at Apapa port.
Briefing news men, the new Controller of the command, Comptroller Malanta Ibrahim Yusuf said the drugs falsely declared as ceramic tiles were traced from Indian to port of Lome, Togo before it was finally shipped to Apapa port where it was seized.
He said upon 100 per cent physical examination to ascertain its true contents, the container was found to contain 554 cartons of tramadol capsules (120 milligrams) concealed with 1000 cartons of ceramic tiles.
He also informed that the command intercepted a 40ft container loaded with mosquito coil product but falsely declared as packaging paper.
“Barely three weeks after I resumed duty, I came in with strong determination, zeal and commitment to ensure that the confidence and trust bestowed on me by the Controller General of Customs (CGC) was upheld and not abused.
“In line with that, the command’s anti-smuggling architecture has been redesigned to suppress smuggling to the barest minimum.
“And so, acting on manifest management system, we were able to track and intercept a container with No. SEGU 1793504 manifested as ceramic tiles”, he said.
According to him “furthermore, with the support of my management team, we are able to make the following intervention, one 40ft container loaded with sacks of mosquito coil products but falsely declared as ground paper and packaging paper bag, seven containers loaded with bales of used clothing and shoes and one container of unregistered pharmaceutical product, cartons of mixagrip tabs wrongfully declared as Winches and gaskets,” he said.
He however said based on the foregoing, the Command has launched a preliminary investigation with a view to identifying the consignee’s for arrest and possible prosecution in connection with this criminal and unlawful importation while assuring members of the business community that the Command would increase sensitisation, enlightenment and robust stakeholders’ engagement for seamless operations, with a view to educate the public on the harmful and destructive nature of these illegal importations.
He stressed that the consignments were seized for breaching the provisions of sections 46, 47 and 161 of CEMA CAP C45 LFN 2004 (17).
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