* Intercepts 1,153 parcels of cannabis worth 57.5m

By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Kwara Area Command, has raked in the sum of N3.3 billion in the last two months to the coffers of the Federal Government.

The Controller of the Command, Faith Matthew Ojeifo, who disclosed this on Wednesday at a press briefing in Ilorin, the state capital,, added that the Command also intercepted a Daf truck with registration number T-25750-LA suspected to conveying 1,153 parcels of Cannabis Sativa (marijuana) with duty paid value of N57.5m, saying the truck was also impounded.

According to him, the vehicle was stopped and searched along Yamboa axis of Bukuro in Baruten Local Government Area on July 3, 2024 at about 5:pm.

He said: “While the search was ongoing, the driver, realising that the eagle eyes of our officers have discovered that there was concealment, abandoned the truck and fled into the bush to evade arrest; this action on the part of the driver triggered the interest of our operatives.

“Further search, however, led to the smartly concealed 1,135 wraps of marijuana on both sides and bottom of the fabricated inner space.

“it is quite unfortunate that diehard smugglers will stop at nothing to carry out their evil enterprise.

“In order to trick our officers, they have developed ways of using modified vehicles and motorcycles to smuggle goods. They have even gone as far as displaying their dexterity by skillfully fabricating trucks with false body and bottom mainly to conceal dangerous drugs with the intention to deceive our operatives.”

Promising to appreciate the officers and men that arrested the culprits, the newly posted NCS boss was ecstatic that his new initiative to reorganise the patrol teams at border towns and communities in the state has continued to yield results.

“Innovative actions adopted under my leadership at border stations include reorganising my patrol teams, charging officers in Charge of outstations and border station had yielded positive results,” he added.

“Gentlemen of the press, during one of my parades with my officers, I made a pledge to honour any officer who exhibit exceptional performance. The tenacity and doggedness of our officers who made this seizure will not go unnoticed,” he assured.

Meanwhile, the Command was also able to seize 110 kegs of 2,750 litres of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) with a duty paid value of N550, 000 from smugglers taking it to neighbouring countries, adding that the product has been auctioned and the money realised remitted into the Federal Government’s coffers.

“it is difficult to imagine that despite the current scarcity of PMS in the country, some unpatriotic Nigerians still attempted to smuggle this product out of the country through our borders

“Within the period under review, the total Duty Paid Value of seized items is N42.7 million’s,” he disclosed.