The Nigeria Customs Service announced that its operatives intercepted nine containers carrying offensive items, including arms, ammunition, illicit drugs, and second-hand clothes worth N13.9 billion.
The Comptroller-General of NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this on Monday, July 1 at Onne Port in Rivers State.
Adeniyi disclosed that one of the containers, originating from Turkey, drew the service’s attention due to the numerous risk factors associated with its importation.
Providing details about the container, the Comptroller-General said, “We have followed its sail across continents and we’ve benefitted immensely from credible information through our collaboration with intelligence communities both at local, national and international levels.”
He stated that the importer attempted to bypass the procedure by using a private-bonded terminal outlet.
“On Friday 21st of June 2024, the auspicious container was subjected to a thorough physical examination. Inside the container were 844 units of assorted riffles and 12,500 pieces of life ammunition concealed with various items like doors, furniture fittings and leather bags,” Adeniyi said.
The head of NCS mentioned that the duty-paid value of the container was N4.2 billion.
He also mentioned that three suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures after obtaining a detention warrant from a competent court of justice.
Regarding the other containers, Adeniyi stated “On Saturday, our officers intercepted eight pieces of 40-foot containers transiting from a bonded terminal.
“On examination, six of the containers were laden with 1.5 million bottles of cough syrup of codeine in 100ml sizes, 3.5m tablets of tramadol. The duty-paid value of the containers is N9.6bn, the total duty paid value of the nine containers is N13.9bn,” the customs boss concluded.
In June, the Joint Border Patrol Team Sector 2 of the NCS reported intercepting 1,410 litres of premium motor spirit valued at N30.4 million within one week.
Mohammad Shuaibu, the team’s Coordinator, disclosed this at the Customs Training College in Ikeja, Lagos State.
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