Date: 2020-06-10

The Comptroller, Kwara state area command, Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Ahmed Hussaini on Tuesday handed over forty-eight sacks of Marijuana(Cannabis Sativa) worth N244.8M seized from smugglers in the state borders to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in the state.

The NDLEA Commander in the state Mr Ambrose Umar and his team were also physically present to take custody of the contraband at the premises of the Nigeria Customs Service in Ilorin.

The Nigeria Customs service Comptroller in the state, Comptroller Ahmed Hussaini speaking at the press conference said the consignments were at different times seized from smugglers along Bokoro in Baruten local government and along Ilorin/Jebba road in Moro local government areas of the state.

He said the suspects having sighted customs officers on patrol abandoned the sacks and fled.

His words,"As parts of our efforts to reduce the ugly trend of drug consumption in the state, we have made seizures of 48 sacks containing 3,593kg of Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) without any suspect the smugglers abandoned the drugs on sighting our officers.

The duty paid value is put at Two hundred and Thirty-Seven Million One Hundred and Thirty-eight thousand naira (N237,138,000.00)and another separate seizure of 129kg of Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa)with a duty paid value (DPV)of Seven Million, seven hundred and forty thousand (N7,740,000.00)was also recorded which brought the total DPV of seized drugs to Two hundred and forty-four million eight hundred and seventy-eight thousand naira only.

He said that the handing over of the seized items to NDLEA was necessary because, "the Nigeria Customs Service is aware that NDLEA is a Federal agency, established and charged with the responsibilities of eliminating the growing, cultivating, processing, selling, trafficking of hard drugs and investigating persons suspected to have dealings in drugs and other related matters.

I want to clarify and re-echo here that the Nigeria Customs service and NDLEA have never for once had any lapses in interdepartmental collaboration or confused our duties as erroneously reported in some quarters."

The Comptroller who charged residents in the state to strictly observe Covid-19 safety protocols nevertheless reiterated the command's resolve, "to rid Kwara state of all prohibited goods" stressing that,"the ban on importation of foreign rice, used vehicles through the land border, vegetable oil, second-hand clothing, used tyres and other dangerous drugs such as Marijuana, Tramadol is still in place and Nigeria Customs Service, Kwara command is committed to enforcing this to the letter."

The NDLEA Commander in the state, Mr Ambrose Umar while receiving the seized items described the event as historic saying that it symbolises the synergy between the two federal agencies.

He noted that because of the relevance of the functions of the federal agencies, officers of each of the agency are supposed to be found where another is on duty., adding that, "we are one family in Kwara "