Customs Seizes Drugs, N85m Worth of Smuggled Rice in Lagos, Ogun

Eromosele Abiodun

Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A in Ikeja yesterday announced that it had intercepted banned drugs, smuggled rice worth N85 million in Lagos and Ogun states.

Also, the unit said it intercepted 4,208 bags of smuggled foreign rice worth N55.3 million that was concealed with tubers of cassava, animal feed and bottle of alcoholic products.

Customs Area Controller of the unit, Compt. Muhammed Aliyu, who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen in Lagos, said the contraband was seized while trying to move from Oyo State to Lagos.

He said the smugglers have found it difficult to smuggle rice into the country due to the joint security operation at the land borders in the country, “hence, they are moving the ones already stored in the country.

“The smugglers stored the item in villages and are trying to bring them out little by little because of the joint security operation at the border. Now, we see them concealing contraband with poisonous substances such as soap, animal feeds and even alcoholic drinks.

“For instance, we have a truck containing soap but when you look inside; it’s not soap but was used for concealing rice. The truck contains 210 bags of smuggled rice but the soap is just a cover. I called you to show you the means of concealment, the extent people can go to bring in contraband into the country,” he said.

Aliyu disclosed that various drugs with no National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) numbers were intercepted in the last one week.

“We intercepted as much as 3,888 sachets of Bisoprolol Fumarate, 300 bottles of Lactulose, 600 sachets of Atorastattin, 2,000 bottles of Mandanol nasal drop and 10,800 sachets of Furossamide. Others are: 279 Dihydrocodeine, 744 Kenalog 40mg injection, 300 cartons of Lansoptazol, 560 sachets Clopidogre, 1,764 Contiflo and 320 sachets Meloxicam, among others.”

He, however, warned corporate organisations to install trackers on their vehicles to forestall unscrupulous drivers from using the branded vehicles for rice smuggling.

“Remember the first truck I showed you contained tubers of rotten cassava and yams used to conceal rice. I also showed you soap, animal feeds and cartons of beer used to conceal rice. These are enough to get the rice poised and bad for human consumption,“ he said.

When asked whether the seized items came in through the land borders despite the joint security operation, the customs official said smuggling activities have reduced drastically.

“The smuggled rice, drugs are not coming from the land border because within a week, we only intercepted 4,208 bags of rice, which shows that the rice smuggling is going down due to the activities at the borders,” he said.

Speaking on branded vehicles used for smuggling of rice and drugs, he said “we have told the companies to put tracker on their trucks so that they can monitor movement but because they don’t do such, the drivers used it for nefarious activities. As such, the truck and contents are seized because they are means of conveyance.”