ABUJA: The men of the Nigeria Customs Service, Ogun State Area Command, have made a seizure of 449 sacks of cannabis sativa, popularly known as hemp, in the Imeko, Imeko Afon Local Government Area of the state.
The Area Comptroller of the command, Haruna Mamudu, said the NCS operatives, acting on a tip-off, went to the location where the sacks of the illicit drug were kept, and seized them.
He said before his men got to the location, their suspected owners had fled, leaving behind the exhibit.
He explained that on close inspection, there were 359 parcels of fermented and dried variety of the illicit drug, called Skunk, neatly concealed in brown papers, while ordinary variety were in 90 sacks.
He said, “Our men got a tip-off about the activities of the dealers of cannabis sativa, popularly known as hemp, at the Imeko area, and they went after them.
“But before our men got there, the suspected owners of the illicit drug had abandoned them and fled.”
Mamudu later handed over the seized drug to a representative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in the state, Abdullahi Sardauna, who is the agency’s Principal Staff Officer, Public Affairs.
Mamudu said the command had recorded improved performance in the first four months of the year.
Within the period, he said the command generated N2.3bn as against N1.9bn collected within same period in 2014.
The comptroller noted that revenue generated from imports through the Idiroko border had reduced due to the bad condition of the road linking Nigeria with Republic of Benin.
He added that within the period under review, the command also made 361 seizures with duty payable value of N319.9m as against 485 seizures with duty payable value of N508.9m made within same period in 2014.
He said the decrease in seizures was as a result of enhanced vigour with which the command had pursued the anti-smuggling campaign since the beginning of the year.
He said, “The command is not relenting in its anti-smuggling drive and we shall pursue it with more vigour and determination in order to reduce the incidence of smuggling to the barest minimum in Ogun State.”