Customs seizes 379 packs of Tramadol, items worth N56m

The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Federal Operation Unit (FOU) Zone ‘B’ has seized 379 packs of 225mg tramadol along Kano/Kazaure road.

Comptroller FOU of Zone B, Mustapha Sarkin-Kebb told journalists that the items apprehended included 150 cartons of veterinary drugs without NAFDAC Registration arrested along Jibiya axis, 816 bags of NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer also along jibiya axis, 100 kegs of vegetable oil, 2 trucks loaded with tiger nuts and dates.

Other seized items were 676 bags of 50kg parboiled foreign rice and 60 bales of second-hand clothing.

Sarkin Kebbi said, all the seizures were made within two weeks during the lockdown.

“They are worth N56,577,500 Duty Paid Value (DPV) ” he said.

The smugglers, he explained, had devised various means of concealing their smuggled items.

“We are equally up to the task in busting their tactics,” he said.

“The seized parboiled foreign rice which was intercepted along Kaduna-Zaria road were concealed inside firewood and in sacks that look like charcoal sacks, some were bagged in Nigeria labeled sacks,” he said.

“The driver conveying the seized tramadol escaped into the bush upon sensing trouble.”

“All the interception, arrest and seizures were made through credible intelligence gathering, and I can tell you that smugglers are now finding it very difficult to continue their criminal activities and are now using all manners of tactics to carry out their activities.

“Every time we bust their tactics, they device another tactic, we are not relenting in our efforts until we bring their activities to a standstill”.

“We call on the smugglers who are greedy, criminally-minded, and incurring lots of losses, to embrace legitimate business as a means of livelihood,” he said.