The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced the seizure of illicit substances worth N4.279 billion that were imported into the country through Lagos seaport.
Addressing newsmen at the seizure site at Tin-Can Island Command of the service on Thursday, the Comptroller General of the service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the illicit drugs and other contraband were imported from Canada and South Africa.
The seized items include Cocaine, Indian hemp, Colorado, live ammunition and chemicals for the manufacture of crystal methamphetamine.
According to the CG of Customs, the weapons seized were five pistols and 445 rounds of live ammunitions and several empty pistol magazines.
He said, “the items seized were 65 packets of Colarado Indica weighing 32.5kg seized from 1X40FT Container No. UACU 534833/6 imported from Canada; 17 packets weighing 16.690kg confirmed to be Cocaine, 151 packets Colarado Indica weighing 107 kg, One piece Gen2 Air soft pistol with serial No. 471908, empty magazine, 49 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition.
“197 rounds of 9mm live ammunition, precursor chemicals for the manufacture of crystal methamphetamine, 8bags weighing 25kg tartaric acid, 100kegs of unspecified substances seized from 1x40ft Container No. MSCU 458177/0 imported from Durban South Africa. 40packets weighing 39.7kg confirmed to be Cocaine, 1026 packets weighing 688.2kg confirmed to be Colarado Indica, Two pistols without serial numbers, one pistol with Serial No AZYSRA6YSO12101181,” Adeniyi stated.
Others are, “three empty magazines, 275rounds of 5.5mm M16 Tavor live ammunition, Six rounds of 9mm blank ammunition seized from in 1x40ft container No. THRU 796807/1imported from Durban South Africa. 226 packets weighing 128kg confirmed to be Cannabis Indica seized from 1x40ft Container No.MEDU 785276/3 imported from Durban South Africa.
“The summary of the seized substances is 56.39kg of Cocaine valued at N 2.368billion and 955kg of Colorado Indica valued at 1,911,400,000, all with street value of N4.279billion. The summary of the weapons seized is 5 pistols and 445 rounds of live ammunition and several empty pistol magazines.”
Adeniyi, however, said that the milestone was achieved through the collaboration of other agencies such as the Department of State Services (DSS), National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Nigeria Police.
Also speaking, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) who was represented by the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said just like the airport, the sea ports are also secured from illicit drug Importation.
He added that, “the handing over of seized illicit drugs in custody of the Nigeria Customs Service was a development that speaks volumes about the hard work and diligence of security agencies tasked with securing the territory of our country.
“The NDLEA boss further expressed his appreciation to the Service for collaboration at all ports and across all areas of the agency’s respective responsibilities.
“The command and other units had diligently tracked the movement of the containers up to the time of their landing in our port. In the spirit of inter-agency collaboration, NDLEA never hesitated to share intelligence with the Tin Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and also requested that the command ensure the containers were pinned down for 100 percent examination.”
That we are here today doing this is a testament to the cooperation we received from the Customs Service. This level of cooperation between NDLEA and Customs, as well as other security agencies and port stakeholders, is a strong signal to drug cartels that our ports and indeed Nigeria, will not be a haven for their criminal business.”
“The synergy between Customs and NDLEA would further ensure the closing of other loopholes that criminal elements may have capitalised on in the past years to smuggle illicit items into our country. Let me conclude by assuring that NDLEA, Nigeria Customs Service and other security organisations are committed to ensuring that the country’s territorial integrity is protected.”
