Nigeria Customs Service Destroys N12.8bn Worth of Illicit Drugs in Lagos
The Nigeria Customs Service dealt a heavy blow to the illegal drug trade on Thursday as it destroyed 96 containers of various expired and illicit drugs worth N12.8bn in Lagos State–marking a significant success in the war against drug trafficking.
The illicit items, which included tramadol tablets, codeine cough syrup, diclofenac tablets and injections, pramo sex, yagra tablets, black cobra tablets, sildenafil citrate tablets, omeprazole capsules, and cotrimoxazole tablets, had all been condemned by courts of competent jurisdiction.
During the destruction exercise, the Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, Adonye Dappa-Williams told journalists that destroying the illegal drugs would discourage their importation and consumption and that their importers would soon face the full wrath of the law.
“It has to do with the guideline that the importation of pharmaceutical products is restricted to very few ports. And that is why the strength of the pharmaceuticals coming here is high; it is purely restricted and it can’t come through any other port. That is why all our destruction has taken place here,” he explained.
The harmful effects of these drugs on society cannot be overemphasized, as they have destroyed countless lives of youths and families and led to an upsurge in crime in society.
In a related development, a representative of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Jamila Ashiru, said that the seizure was done in collaboration with other agencies.
“That is why the Customs and other agencies are in the port to ensure that it didn’t go into the system because if it had gone into the system, the volume is huge. Some of these products are unregistered, some are banned, and all that. We also have a legal department for the people arrested. So the legal department is processing it, so hopefully, very soon there will be prosecution and we will all hear about that,” she said.
Thanks to their continuous collaboration and synergy, sister agencies earned praise from the Assistant Comptroller General of Customs for achieving this significant breakthrough.
