Cannabis worth over 1.2billion, seized during anti-smuggling operations were, on Friday, destroyed by the Western Marine Command of Nigeria Customs Service.
The Controller of the Command, Olugboyega Peters, who supervised the destruction of the illicit substance, in Badagry in Lagos State, disclosed that the seizure is the highest single haul of cannabis in the history of the service.
Speaking on how the seizures were made, Peter disclosed that intelligence about the movement of the substance had filtered to the command, hence the seizures at Agaja Beach area of the state.
Peters said aside being in contravention of extant laws, the importation is capable of causing adverse effects on its consumers including a breakdown of the central nervous system.
He said: “The seizure of this Cannabis Sativa was made on April 21,2020. It is classified in schedule 2, Section 2 under vegetable products of page 34 of the ECOWAS Commo External Tariff (CET), Harmonised System Code 0602 9000 of 5 percent duty rate and 7.5 Value Added Tax (VAT).
“The seizure was based on credible intelligence. The smugglers on sighting our officers abandoned their consignment and jumped into the water, a terrain they know so much.
“Our patrol officers had to hire boats from fishermen who were fishing nearby. They were 10 in number who arrived our base in Ibafon area of Lagos
“ This unprecedented seizure of cannabis is of the highest quality as research says it is the biggest catch of a single item of cannabis ever seized in the history of the Nigeria Customs Service. ”
He further noted that the feat wouldn’t have been possible without the support of various security agencies like the Nigerian Army, Navy, Police and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
While also speaking at the exercise, Customs Area Controller of Seme Border, Dalha Cheidi Wada, urged citizens to at all time comply with the law.
Wada reiterated that the service would remain committed, and increase it’s tempo of anti smuggling activities even in the face of partial closure of some border stations in the country.
Also in his remark, the Charman of Badagry West Local Government, Hon Benu Joseph, commended the customs for preventing such huge amount of drugs from entering the country.
Joseph admonished youths to avoid peer pressure by cooperating with security agencies and volunteering information that will lead to crime detection and prevention
The event also had in attendance, representatives of NDLEA, NAFDAC, Police and others. A certificate of destruction of the seizure was jointly signed by the agencies
