Customs seize 5,056 cartons of Tramadol worth N242m from India

THE Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Col Hameed Alli on Monday revealed that the Service has intercepted 5056 cartons of absolute prohibited Tramadol drugs in Apapa road in Lagos, Sango-Ota axis of Ogun State and Lagos-Ibadan express road worth N242, 688.000.00 in Duty Paid Value (DPV). This is even as the Customs CG explained that the drugs came in from India and  other Asian countries.

Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, Hameed Alli explained that, “the 5056 cartons of Tramadol came in different batches. For those of us who are aware, these drugs are dangerous and are mostly used by our youths and women.

“This drugs fall under absolute prohibition list. That’s why when people complain of Customs harassing them on the highway, how would this have been intercepted if the trucks conveying them were not stopped on the roads. We are not deliberately stopping vehicles on the roads.

“These drugs were seized at areas in Apapa road, Sango-Ota and along Lagos-Ibadan express road. If we close our eyes and allow these prohibited drugs to come in, the damage it will cause to our children can never be quantified.

“We have two layers of defence to stop illicit and prohibited drugs like this. If it leaves the ports and borders, our officers will stop it on the highway. It is part of our mandate to prevent the illegal entry of this kind of products.

“Anybody who keeps taking these drugs will not be useful to himself or the nation. Therefore, we need the support of Nigerians to fight this menace. These are the ones we have nipped in the bud, only God knows the numbers of those that have escaped arrest.

“I also admit my officers are compromising, otherwise, these drugs will not find their way into the country. On the officers that released this to come in, we are currently doing profiling of everybody involved in this drugs clearance. Immediately we are done with that, we will make our arrest. We have our ways of getting this information, so we will get to the roots of this clearance very soon.

“It is in realisation of this compromise by some of my officers that we have set up this second layer of defence, so that when these drugs beat the system at the ports or border stations, our men will stop it on the roads.”