By Shola Fadeyi
In its quest to continue to foil attempts to import unlawful goods including hard drugs into Nigeria, the Apapa Command of the Nigerian Customs Service(NCS) , has made a single seizure of a large quantity of 225 mg of tramadol tablets ,valued at N21,600,000,000 between January March , 2023.
The Command also intercepted 14 containers , comprising prohibited items such as vegetable oil, footwears, used clothing, unprocessed wood, and tramadol tablets with a duty paid value of N22,099,618,111 during the period.
The Area Controller of the Apapa Command , Auwal Muhammad made the revelation in Lagos , yesterday,while giving a stewardship of the Command’s activities for the first quarter of 2023.
He said the tramadol , numbering 143,800,000 and hidden in 729 cartons, weighed 10.3 tonnes or 10,386kg, and imported from India were seized , March 31,2023, adding that the Customs was however on the trail of the culprits responsible for the importation, giving an assurance that they would soon be nabbed ,paraded and prosecuted.
Muhammed disclosed that the Customs owes Nigerians the duty to continue to disallow unlawful importation such as that of the hard drugs and others ,from entering the market, in order to safeguard the health of the citizenry as well as curb crime rates .
The Controller warned perpetrators of smuggling ,duty evasion and other forms of criminality frowned upon by the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) and other extant laws, adding that Apapa Customs will only facilitate legitimate trade.
Muhammed stated that the Command’s resolve to enforce government fiscal policies and extant laws to ensure that all imports and export consignments transiting through Apapa Port were duly examined , has been strengthened through effective collaboration and timely sharing of credible intelligence with sister government agencies at the Port.
In the area of revenue generation, he said the Command collected a revenue of N212,592,680,709.99 saying that the revenue figure would be higher subsequently with the expected rise in the volume of imports, post election .
On exports, he stated that the Command processed agricultural goods, such as sesame seeds, ginger, hibiscus,mineral resources, steel ingots,and others of 110,448 metric tonnes, during the period, adding that the export goods are worth N70,200,829,358.67, which is equivalent to Free on Board Value (FOB) of $159,845,232.84.
