Nigerian Customs Intercepts N76m Worth of Contraband, Hard Drugs

Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ogun State Command, has intercepted 64 big bags of hard drugs, commonly called Indian herm loaded in two vehicles.

The Command also impounded 75,800 pairs of male and female shoes estimated at a duty paid value (DPV) of N76 million, loaded in two long trucks, with the registration numbers XG 157 BDJ and XC 828 AGG, along Badagry Expressway, coming in through Kute, Republic of Benin axis of the Command.

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Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the command, Deputy Comptroller, Richard Oteri, who disclosed this in a briefing at the command headquarters, Abeokuta stated that the vehicles loaded with hard drugs were intercepted by his officials on patrol during the early hours of their operations.

Oteri noted that in order to escape the scrutiny of security operatives, the drivers of both vehicles were dressed in long white garment attires similar to the ones used by worshippers of some spiritual churches such as Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) and Cherubim and Seraphim.

His words: “We intercepted the vehicles through our intelligence network. The drivers of the vehicles disguised themselves in white garments pretending to be returning from a night vigil in a church in order to escape security checks. When our officers stopped them, they drove recklessly and ran into a pit and we arrested the vehicles with the hard drugs to our office. We have concluded arrangement to call on officials of National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to take over the substances and carry out a thorough investigation into the matter.

“Our duties are to promote the wellbeing of the nation, facilitate trade and promote economic growth and development. That is why we are alert to ensure that offensive goods do not come into the country through the border points. For instance, one of the smuggled vehicles carrying the substances came into the country through the Republic of Benin and this is the highest volume of hard drugs we have apprehended in the command this year.

These are dangerous substances that criminals use as stimulant, after which they perpetuate crimes in the society under the influence of hard drugs”, Oteri added.

He explained that the shoes fully loaded in the trucks are substandard products. According to the CAC, smugglers are in the habit of  bringing in substandard goods into the country at the detriment of local industries.

“Some people see smuggling as lucrative business that is why they would stop at nothing in trying to turn the country into a dumping ground for substandard products. You could see that the products do not even have trade mark to identify the country of manufacturing. The vehicles used as means of conveyance are registered here in Nigeria and through the vehicles we would trace the people behind it”, he said.

He disclosed that the command has generated accumulative revenue of N2.3 billion from the month of January to August this year. He also revealed that in the month of August alone, the command generated N391 million, which he said was the highest revenue collection realised this year in their operations.