The Customs Strike Force, Team A, Ikeja, has said that it intercepted 5,124 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa, along the coast of Lekki, Lagos.

The Customs Comptroller in charge of the team, Sani Yusuf, while addressing journalists on Wednesday at the command, said the contraband with an estimated duty paid value of N516 million, was intercepted following a credible intelligence in January 2023.

He added that the contrabands were being moved directly from the ship to trucks before his men intercepted them around Lekki along the coast at midnight.

Yusuf also said that in the same January, the team also seized 705 bags of foreign parboiled rice 50kg each with a duty-paid value of N42m and also 11 bales of secondhand clothing with a DPV of N3m.

Meanwhile, the Controller said that between January to December 2022, the team seized different contrabands with a duty value of N9bn, adding that the year witnessed a robust anti-smuggling drive marked by tremendous success.

He said that the figure represented a 55 percent increase when compared to N3.9bn generated in the year 2021.

Among the items seized in 2022 included, “225mg of tramadol, 100mg of sildenafil citrate, codeine cough syrup, used tyres, bales of second-hand clothing, bags of foreign parboiled rice, containers of timber, pangolin scales, slabs of Donkey skin, Cannabis sativa among others. The sum of N5.8bn was generated as revenue through demand notices from January to December 2022”

Yusuf is sounding a warning to all unpatriotic importers and their agents who go the extra mile in daring us. He said they will not only make seizures, but our ever-vigilant operatives will also get them arrested to face the full wrath of the law.

Yusuf, however, warned that the team had already reinvigorated their round-the-clock operations and are relying on their gallant and intelligent officers to suppress smuggling and prevent revenue loss because their commitment to doing better in 2023 and beyond is renewed.