Nigeria Customs Service (NSC), Kwara Command, on Wednesday, said it intercepted a DAF truck conveying 1.153 parcels of Cannabis Sativa (Marijuana) with duty pay estimated at N57.448 million.
Faith Ojeifo, controller of Customs Area Kwara Command, disclosed this at a press briefing in Ilorin. Ojeifo said the command also generated N3.3 billion between July and August this year.
Ojeifo said the command committed the amount realised into the Federal Government coffers.
He said a truck with registration number: T-25750-LA worth 21.5 million conveying the banned substance was also impounded.
He explained that the vehicle was stopped and searched along the Yamboa axis of Bukuro in Baruten Local Government Area on July 3, 2024, at about 5 p.m.
“While the search was ongoing, the driver, realising that the eagle eyes of our officers had discovered a concealment, abandoned the truck and fled into the bush to evade arrest; this action by the driver triggered the interest of our operatives,” he added.
Further search, according to him, led to the smartly concealed 1,135 wraps of marijuana on both sides and bottom of the fabricated inner space.
“It is unfortunate that die-hard smugglers would stop at nothing to carry out their evil enterprise.
“To trick our officers, they have developed ways of using modified vehicles and motorcycles to smuggle goods. They have even gone as far as displaying their dexterity by skillfully fabricating trucks with false bodies and bottoms mainly to conceal dangerous drugs to deceive our operatives.”
He commended the officers and men who arrested the culprits, adding that his new initiative to reorganise the patrol teams at border towns and communities in the state has continued to yield results.
“Innovative actions adopted under my leadership at border stations include reorganising my patrol teams, charging officers in charge of outstations and border station has yielded positive result.
“During one of my parades with my officers, I pledged to honour any officer who exhibit exceptional performance. The tenacity and doggedness of our officers who made this seizure will not go unnoticed.”
The command also seized 110 kegs of 2,750 litres of petrol with a duty paid value of N550,000 from smugglers taking it to neighbouring countries. He said the product had been auctioned and the money realised remitted into the Federal Government coffers.
Ojeifo noted that “it is difficult to imagine that despite the current scarcity of petrol in the country, some unpatriotic Nigerians still attempted to smuggle this product out of the country through our borders. Within the period under review, the total DPV of seized items is N42.7 million.
Speaking after receiving the cannabis, Fatima Popoola, the Kwara State NDLEA controller, expressed dismay that about 4.3 million Nigerians were into hard drugs.
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