By Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Sokoto Command, comprising Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States, has intercepted 465 packets of Tramadol worth about N4.7 million.
Speaking with journalists in Sokoto on Wednesday, the Customs Area Controller, Mr. Nasir Ahmed, said the illicit drugs were intercepted at the Illela border in Sokoto State.
According to him, Tramadol are not supposed to come through the land borders but the ports in Lagos, adding that the 465 packets of Tramadol were flown on Ethiopian Air to Niger Republic and smuggled into Nigeria.
Ahmed, who described Tramadol as one of the most dangerous drugs the youths are using in the region which leads to crime, noted with dismay that some marauders who recently massacred some villagers in Zamfara State, carried out such nefarious acts under the influence of the drug.
“Tramadol is a regulated drug and more dangerous than Indian hemp. Some people were killed in Zamfara recently and no sane human being can kill another without being under the influence of drugs. This is the biggest challenge we have in Nigeria because our youths from the region are on drugs and it is a source of concern to us.
“We owe it a duty to humanity to take care of our children so that we will not leave a drug-ravaged country. Today is Zamfara and tomorrow may be anywhere else. That is why we are doing our best to curtail the menace,”he said.
He added that the command had already handed over the drugs to the state office of the National Agency for Food, Drugs, Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
