The Western Marine Command of Nigeria Customs Service, in its continued efforts to purge the Western waterways of the offensive activities of smuggling, has intercepted 51 sacks containing 4,070 parcels of Cannabis Sativa in January 2024.
According to a statement signed by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Magaji Mailafiya, “On Friday, 19th January 2024, at exactly 1206hrs, a Joint patrol team of the Command received credible Intelligence of the movement of a wooden boat around the Moba Seashore axis of the Command suspected of transporting offending goods. After a hot pursuit of the identified boat by our officers, the smugglers dived into the Creek, abandoning the boat fully loaded with the goods.
“The wooden boat powered by two 40 horsepower (HP) engines was towed back to the Command HQ at Ibafon Apapa. After careful examination, it was found to contain 4,070 parcels of Cannabis Sativa weighing 1785kg.”
The statement quoted the Controller of the command, Comptroller Odaudu Salefu, promising to give officers of the Command the needed impetus and motivation to perform their anti-smuggling responsibilities in 2024.
Recall that in 2023, Western Marine Command made five significant seizures of Cannabis Sativa, totaling 14,920 parcels of the dangerous drugs; the 5 seizures were part of the 48 incidents of seizures recorded by the Command in 2023 resulting in a total Duty Paid Value of N1, 470,397,255.00 for the year ended.
“Western Marine Command is poised more than ever to improve this performance in 2024 for a better and prosperous year,” the statement concluded.
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