The Comptroller General of Customs Strike Force, Team A, Ikeja, said that it intercepted 5,124 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa valued at N516million along the coast of Lekki, Lagos.
The team said it also seized various smuggled goods with a Duty Paid Value of N9billion from January to December 2022.
The coordinator of the team, Sani Yusuf, who disclosed this while addressing journalists in Lagos on Wednesday said the Cannabis were intercepted following credible intelligence in January 2023.
He added that the contrabands were being moved directly from the ship to trucks before his men intercepted them.
“On this Cannabis, it was intercepted following credible intelligence, we intercepted it somewhere around Lekki along the coast at midnight. On getting there we saw a lot of men loading the contrabands from the ship directly into the truck despite the sea waves. Immediately our officers got there, they discovered that they had already loaded the first truck; they were loading the second and third trucks when we got there. And they were pandemonium. Like I said earlier, when we got there, we saw some other agencies. We don’t know who they were. But after lots of heated arguments, we were able to take this truck down to our office. The people who were loading the consignment ran away”
Yusuf said they were able to take one truck because it had already been loaded, parked outside and was waiting to be taken out before his men busted them.
“This particular truck was parked outside while they were loading the other two trucks, they never knew we were coming. So, they loaded this truck and kept it outside. So, when we came, while they were arguing, we decided it was better we took the ones outside for the safety of our officers. So, one of the officers drove the truck.”
Yusuf also said that in the same January, the team also seized 705 bags of foreign parboiled rice 50kg each with a duty-paid value of N42m and also 11 bales of second-hand clothes with an estimated duty-paid value of N3m.
“Among the items seized in 2022 include 225mg of tramadol, 100mg of sildenafil citrate, codeine cough syrup, used tyres, bales of second-hand clothing, bags of foreign parboiled rice, containers of timber, pangolin scales, slabs of Donkey skin, Cannabis sativa among others. The sum of N5.8bn was generated as revenue through demand notices from January to December 2022,” he noted.
Yusuf warned that the team had already reinvigorated their round-the-clock operations, saying, “We shall not only make seizures, but our ever-vigilant operatives will also get them arrested to face the full wrath of the law”
