The Western Marine Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has confiscated 43 jumbo bags of cannabis worth N250million at the Agbara/Badagry axis smuggled into the country from Ghana.
Controller of the command, Comptroller Yusuf Umar who disclosed this while conducting journalists round the seizure alongside the Zonal Coordinator in charge of Zone ‘A’ of the NCS, Assistant Comptroller General Charles Edike said that the seizure was made possible following an intelligence report that some smugglers would be smuggling the cannabis into the country from Ghana.
Umar said on getting the report, he quickly mobilized his officers to the area who arrested the boat carrying the cannabis while the suspects escaped through the water.
“Thereafter, the patrol team waited for a while to see if they will swim up but to no avail. The officers had to bring the cannabis to the base, hence no suspects were arrested. It was packed in 43 jumbo bags worth N250million,” he said.
Umar said the seizure of the cannabis was the fourth in the last six months, stressing that the command will continue to fight smuggling activities as long as smugglers refuse to turn away from “their nefarious activities”.
In a related development, Comptroller Umar said that the command had so far made seizures valued at N3.35billion in 2016.
He said the figure was against 13 seizures valued at N6.5million six million recorded in the same period of 2015.
ACG Edike commended the command on its seizure profile saying that it could only take a dedicated and purposeful leadership to make that kind of seizure.
He said, “We know that the borders had been tightened, Seme, Idiroko axis, Ibadan, Oyo/Osun, all those places had been tightened and so they don’t have any other place to follow apart from the waters and of course, we know it that you are here, that they won’t be able to escape you.
“For you to have impounded 46 jumbo bags of cannabis, this time from Ghana we are saying thank you for a job well done. We know the kind of harm this would have done to our society because we don’t know how many men and women that will begin to smoke these things and begin to turn left so to say.
“So, we cannot thank you enough, this is not your first time, I am sure this is about the fourth time we have been here to witness the seizures of marijuana, of course outside frozen poultry or foreign parboiled rice and then petroleum products you have been seizing. We just want to appreciate you and ask you not to be tired and also to let you know that these smugglers this season want to see whether there are loopholes where they can exploit and then bring in items like these.”
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