Customs intercepts N99.8m worth of Tramadol, other contraband

By Seun Ibiyemi

The Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘C’ Owerri of the Nigeria Customs Service said it intercepted tramadol and other contraband goods with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N99.8million from April to June 2021.

Public Relations Officer of the unit, Jerry Attah, in a statement made available to newsmen on Monday said most of the contraband items were intercepted along Okada-Benin/Lagos expressway with five suspects arrested in connection with the seizures.

Giving a breakdown of the seized items, Attah said they include, 45 rolls containing 4,500 sachets of 225mg of royal brand of tramadol, 210 bags of 50kg foreign parboiled rice, 18 parcels of Indian Hemp, 19, 725 sachets of dizapam tablet and 98 bales of used clothing.

Others are 220 cartons of foreign tomatoes paste, 12 cartons of foreign Johnson soap, 240 pieces of used tyres and 668 pairs of used shoes among others.

Attah quoted the Controller of the command, Comptroller Yusuf Lawal, as commending the resilience and doggedness of his officers and men that brought about the result noting that only God knows what would have happened if the tramadol gets to the wrong hand at this trying moment for the country.

He added that the unit was able to achieve the feat through the logistics support provided by the Customs management, just as he expressed appreciation to the media and other sister government agencies for providing necessary operational support.

“This feat couldn’t have been possible without the logistics support of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) and the entire management, as well as the media for their partnership in sensitizing and educating the general public on the evil of smuggling to the nation’s economy which has led to drastic reduction of smuggling within our zone,” he said.

Comptroller Lawal reiterated that even though smuggling is a global phenomenon that cannot be eradicated entirely, all hands must be on deck to reduce the menace to its barest minimum.

While urging his officers/men to always ensure professionalism and be diligent in performing their statutory responsibilities, the Customs boss charged them to sustain the anti-smuggling operations by making sure all revenue leakages are blocked and encouraged them to keep thwarting the antics of dare devil smugglers who used different methods of concealment for smuggling