NDLEA confirms 214.732Kgs of cocaine as Tincan Customs nets N208bn in 10 months
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has confirmed that the eight bags containing 25 wraps of unidentified substance found in 1 x 20ft container No. CMAU 045195/0 is cocaine weighing 214.732kg. This particular seizure ranks among the highest in terms of volume in the country in the last decade.
Reacting to the seizure effected by his command, the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller, Mr. Bashar YU said “This is no doubt a spectacular and remarkable seizure considering the well articulated Intelligence Coordination Mechanism adopted and harnessed by the Command in it’s resilience to achieve desired results”.
The Controller stated that all hands are on deck in all ramifications to ensure that Tincan Port continues to blaze the trail especially with the recent commendation from the CGC and Management to the Command for being at the Vanguard of due diligence and professionalism.
This as the Customs Tincan Island Port, Lagos has generated N207,838,450,974.00 between January and October 2016.
In a statement issued by the PRO of the Command, Mr. Uche Ejesieme said “This sum represents a positive trend in consideration of the prevailing Economic Recession which has become a global phenomenon”.
It would be recalled that the Controller, on assumption of office few months ago, re-jigged the Operational and Revenue generating capacity of the Command through some far reaching measures aimed at blocking all identifiable areas of Revenue leakages.
In a recent meeting with key stakeholders in the Maritime Industry, the Controller had charged them to continually educate and sensitize members of their various organizations on the need to support the Federal Government and the Nigeria Customs Service through honest declarations in all their documentation.
“A major constraint which we have continued to address is the issue of false declaration, deliberate misapplication of harmonized system code on items among other infractions. However, I am confident that with the measures which we have put in place, it will be practically impossible for anybody to manipulate or circumvent the process without being caught”.
Speaking on the measures and plans to further enhance the capacity of the Command to deal with some of the vices, the Controller pointed out that he is fully committed and determined to deliver on his mandate, promising to ensure that the various operations in the value chain are compelled to key into the change ideology of the Federal Government.
In his words, “we will continue the strategy of Stakeholder Engagement, Training and Re-Training of our personnel as well as collaboration and synergy with the critical Agencies in line with the vision and mission of the Comptroller General, Col Hamed Ali. (Rtd) and his management. “We will continue to remain on top of our mandate through strict adherence with the extant laws for maximum Revenue Generation”.
