- Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Service, Mr Inde Dikko Abdullahi
Barely three weeks after it made a seizure of 117 bags of Indian hemp, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Wednesday intercepted 23 compressed wraps of substances suspected to be Indian helm from Gbaji-Agbara axis of Lagos.
The Indian hemp was concealed inside an 18-seat bus, which was intercepted yesterday by some officials of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’, Ikeja, Lagos. Already, a suspect, Mr. Muyideen Mufutau, has been arrested in connection with the incident.
THISDAY recalled that about 117 bags of Indian hemp were seized along the Iwoye- Imeko bush part, which has a border town between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin in Ogun State, and the Oyo axis in Oyo State last month. Impeccable sources said the street value of the weeds was about N11.5 million.
But acting Customs Area Comptroller (CAC), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’, Mr. Victor Dimka, who disclosed this in Lagos, who confirmed the seizure, said the street value of the 23 wraps of cannabis was about N20.3 million, as against the N11.5 million value of the 117 bags of the same substance, which were seized about two weeks ago.
The CAC explained that the latest seizure was bigger than the former one as the weeds were carefully compressed with a machine, thereby making it smaller and well- disguised.
The Indian hemp was concealed inside an 18-seat bus, which was intercepted yesterday by some officials of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’, Ikeja, Lagos. Already, a suspect, Mr. Muyideen Mufutau, has been arrested in connection with the incident.
THISDAY recalled that about 117 bags of Indian hemp were seized along the Iwoye- Imeko bush part, which has a border town between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin in Ogun State, and the Oyo axis in Oyo State last month. Impeccable sources said the street value of the weeds was about N11.5 million.
But acting Customs Area Comptroller (CAC), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’, Mr. Victor Dimka, who disclosed this in Lagos, who confirmed the seizure, said the street value of the 23 wraps of cannabis was about N20.3 million, as against the N11.5 million value of the 117 bags of the same substance, which were seized about two weeks ago.
The CAC explained that the latest seizure was bigger than the former one as the weeds were carefully compressed with a machine, thereby making it smaller and well- disguised.
“The street value of the former one is not as high as this, this one is double and this is to tell you that these people are becoming so ingenious and so wise as to make sure that they hide these things from ordinary people,” Dimka said.
He acknowledged that with the recent increase in cannabis seizure, it was apparent that smugglers are diverting attention into its importation since, according to him, the Customs will not allow them to smuggle in other contrabands.
According to him, Customs have been trained and retrained and empowered with the relevant tools to go deep and detect these things.
He said the seizure and the suspect would be handed over to the management of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for a thorough investigation and prosecution.
He acknowledged that with the recent increase in cannabis seizure, it was apparent that smugglers are diverting attention into its importation since, according to him, the Customs will not allow them to smuggle in other contrabands.
According to him, Customs have been trained and retrained and empowered with the relevant tools to go deep and detect these things.
He said the seizure and the suspect would be handed over to the management of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for a thorough investigation and prosecution.
“To carry these things in bags will give them out easily like it did last week, so they decided to be going this way, compressing it so that you will not know that it is cannabis or Indian hemp,” he said.
He urged the general public to be wary of drug peddlers and their activities.
“This could be equaled to not less than five of the sacks that you saw last week, sometimes more. They did not stop here but used tapes to disguise it, but because we have been trained and retrained and we have also been empowered to detect these things,” he said.
He attributed the successes recorded by his command to the support and co-operation of the management of the Custom High Command led by the Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Inde Diko Abdullahi.
“We have said it times without numbers that the Customs of today is a transformed Customs, and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has directed and re-directed that apart from our statutory functions, we must take the issue of security very seriously, and that is why we stop at nothing to see that when we are examining vehicles, we painstakingly do this to ensure that things that have been neatly concealed are unearth so that they do not escape the long arms of the law,” he said.
He also disclosed that his command has been directed by the Customs boss to tighten the noose around smugglers; especially now that the year is running to an end.
He urged the general public to be wary of drug peddlers and their activities.
“This could be equaled to not less than five of the sacks that you saw last week, sometimes more. They did not stop here but used tapes to disguise it, but because we have been trained and retrained and we have also been empowered to detect these things,” he said.
He attributed the successes recorded by his command to the support and co-operation of the management of the Custom High Command led by the Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Inde Diko Abdullahi.
“We have said it times without numbers that the Customs of today is a transformed Customs, and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has directed and re-directed that apart from our statutory functions, we must take the issue of security very seriously, and that is why we stop at nothing to see that when we are examining vehicles, we painstakingly do this to ensure that things that have been neatly concealed are unearth so that they do not escape the long arms of the law,” he said.
He also disclosed that his command has been directed by the Customs boss to tighten the noose around smugglers; especially now that the year is running to an end.
“We have been further directed by the CGC to ensure that nothing passes through the border, especially now that festivities are around the corner and smugglers are likely to want to try their luck, I want to seize this opportunity to warn them again that they can not succeed with us, we will catch them as usual,” he said.
culled from thisday
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