WMC: Customs Impounds Cannabis, Rice, Others Worth 190m On Waterways In Four Months.

On May 27, 2022

The Western Marine Command (WMC) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Thursday said it seized 32 sacks of items suspected to be cannabis sativa weighing a total of 1,437

The contrabands according to the command were intercepted in a wooden boat through credible intelligence at Oko-Aja beach on Wednesday, March 20, 2022.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the amphibian command, Comptroller Abubakar Umar while briefing journalists, said that the street value of the seized cannabis is N168,000,000.00.

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According to the Controller, since his assumption of office in February, other items including foreign parboiled rice suspected to be smuggled from Benin Republic were intercepted.

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In total, he said the command intercepted 838 bags of foreign parboiled rice suspected to have been smuggled into the country between February and May, 2022.

Some of the seized bags of rice by operatives of the Western Marine Command, Nigeria Customs Service on display

The Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the seized parboiled rice, Comptroller Umar said was Twenty Nine Million, Six Hundred and Eighty Four Thousand Naira (N29, 684, 000.00).

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Other contraband items seized by the operatives of the command in four months include; foreign parboiled rice concealed in 35 Jerry cans of vegetable oil, 30kg of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), 8 kegs of Spaghetti noodles, 250 sachets of pepper onion tomato.

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Others are: 71 pairs of second hand shoes, 10 sacks of second hand clothing, 4 boats and 2 engines as means of conveyance.

Speaking further, Comptroller Umar summed the total DPV of all the seizures at One Hundred and Ninety Million, one hundred and forty five thousand and five hundred naira (N190, 145, 500.00)

The controller handed over the seized cannabis to the officials of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)

Speaking, the Marine Commander of NDLEA, Commander of Narcotics, Isaac Uzah commended the efforts of the Customs in its support against the fight against drug.

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He added that the synergy between the two agencies have started yielding dividends saying the seizure made by the Service was a testimony to the synergy.

He maintained that the fight was necessary because of the attendant hazards of the drug on the society and the youths of the nation.