No fewer than 16 containers valued at ₦10 billion containing hard drugs, arms, expired pharmaceuticals, banned poultry, and counterfeit goods have seized by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
Maritime Bits checks revealed that contrabands are in the Import Prohibition List (IPL) and Export Prohibition List (EPL) enforced by the NCS base on the Federal Government fiscal policies through the Federal Ministry of Finance.
In the same vein, no fewer than five suspects have been arrested in connection with the seizures.
While three of the suspects have been charged to court and remanded at the Nigeria Correctional Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos, two others are on administrative bail.
NCS has also stopped the examination of pharmaceuticals at bonded terminals so as to curtail the increasing cases of expired drugs imported into the country.
The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Alhaji Bashir Adewale Adeniyi who disclosed this Monday said the seizures followed weeks of intelligence gathering, coordinated inspections, and inter-agency collaboration.
Adeniyi vowed that NCS would pursue the importers and their accomplices “network for network” until they are brought to justice.
He maintained that the NCS High Command will not allow Nigeria to be turned into a dumping ground for dangerous imports.
The CGC also revealed that one of the containers, a 40-foot box with number MRSU6407089, was initially passed as clean cargo but upon a secondary joint examination with National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), was found to contain 202 cans of “Colorado Loud” (Canadian marijuana) weighing 101 kilogrammes.
He noted after scanning the same container two pump-action rifles, 25 cartridges, a Smith and Wesson pistol with 55 rounds of ammunition, and other accessories concealed within. The container, according to him, was consigned to one Mr. Babatunde Ogidioglu of Lagos.
Also seized by the NCS are seven containers of expired drugs and prohibited medicaments, three containers of expired food products—mainly margarine—three containers of absolutely prohibited used clothing, and two 40-foot containers, each carrying 1,290 sacks of frozen poultry.
He further disclosed that one container with number ZZSU7277511 was found to have 305 cartons of unregistered toothpaste concealed under beads and ‘jalabiya” in violation of NAFDAC and brand protection regulations.
According to him, two containers of expired chest and lung tablets without NAFDAC registration numbers were also intercepted, while two newly arrived 40-foot containers of codeine syrup were traced to the same syndicate responsible for previous drug imports.
He reiterated that NCS would not reverse its decision to stop the transfer of pharmaceutical containers to bonded terminals outside the ports just as he pointed out that many of the operators had failed to meet licensing and compliance obligations.
He explained that intelligence indicates that those arrested are linked to a wider international network of traffickers and smugglers just as he assured that NCS would intensify cooperation with agencies such as NAFDAC, NDLEA, and foreign customs administrations under a “Customs-to-Customs Cooperation” framework to track and dismantle the syndicate’s operations.
“We have credible intelligence that these criminal elements are working together. As they collaborate, we will also work together—locally and globally—to crush their operations,” Adeniyi added.
