The Western Marine Command , Nigeria Customs Service, in its continued efforts to purge the waterways of offensive activities of smuggling, has intercepted and seized 51 sacks containing 4,070 parcels of Cannabis Sativa in January 2024.
Spokesman of the command, SC Maigaji Mailafiya, in a statement on Tuesday , 30 January 2024 , disclosed that the seizures were recorded on Friday, 19th January 2024, at exactly 1206hrs.
He stated that at 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.
He noted that after a hot pursuit of the identified boat by officers, the smugglers dived into the creek, abandoning the boat fully laden with the goods.
According to him, the wooden boat powered by 2 40 horsepower (HP) engines was towed back to the Command HQ at Ibafon Apapa, adding that after careful examination, it was found to contain 4,070 parcels of Cannabis Sativa weighing 1785kg.
The Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Odaudu Salefu, was quoted promising to give officers of the Command the needed impetus and motivation to perform their anti-smuggling responsibilities in 2024.
Mailafiya affirmed that the Western Marine Command is poised more than ever to improve this performance in 2024 for a better and prosperous year.
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.
