The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced the interception of “16 containers of prohibited items valued at N10 billion” at the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) in Apapa.
On Monday in Lagos, Adewale Adeniyi, the comptroller-general (CG) of customs, said the seizures were the result of “intelligence-led operations and joint inspections with other security agencies.”
According to Adeniyi, the confiscated goods include “two pump-action rifles, 25 rounds of ammunition, and 202 cans of Colorado Loud, a Canadian strain of cannabis,” which were hidden inside a 40-foot container with the number MRSU6407089.
He pointed out that each can of the Colorado Loud weighed “500 grams, amounting to 101 kg”—about the same weight as two bags of cement.
Adeniyi said that although the container was initially cleared, a second search uncovered the illegal goods. He added that the shipment was consigned to a person named Babatunde Ogidiolu from Lagos.
The customs CG further stated that additional inspections revealed “a Smith & Wesson pistol with 55 rounds, seven containers of expired drugs, three containers of expired margarine, and three containers of prohibited used clothing.”
He also reported that officers seized “two 40-foot containers loaded with 1,290 sacks of frozen poultry products each” and “one container (ZZSU7277511) with 305 cartons of counterfeit toothpaste concealed with beads and jalabiya dresses.”
Furthermore, he said that over the weekend, two containers of expired “chest and lung tablets” lacking approval from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), as well as two 40-foot containers of “codeine-based products” connected to the same network behind previous seizures, were also confiscated.
Adeniyi concluded by saying that the service has improved its use of technology, intelligence, and inter-agency cooperation to fight smuggling.
“We work on tightropes to ensure no mandate suffers,” Adeniyi stated, adding that “The results in the last two years justify our efforts in striking a healthy balance.”