The Nigeria Customs Service says it has intercepted smuggled arms and ammunition, military uniforms, cocaine and thousands of bottles of codeine.

Abdullahi Musa, the area comptroller of the Tin Can Island command, disclosed this on Thursday.

“The command in conjunction with NDLEA also seized 43.110kg of cocaine, military uniforms, used clothes, cartons of expired chloroquine injections, etc., with a duty paid value of N93,829,829,” said Mr Musa. “Recently, the command discovered a pistol with its magazine concealed in a compartment of an imported vehicle among others.”

He explained that the NCS had rejigged its anti-smuggling operations through intelligence sharing with other security agencies, including the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria.

The area comptroller revealed that on Wednesday, the command seized a container of “150 arms and ammunition and 600,000 bottles of Barcadine brand of codeine among others.”

He disclosed this at a media conference in Lagos.

“In the period under review January 1 to September 9, Tinc Can Island Port (TCIP) command’s operation aligned with the statutory obligations of the NCS which include revenue generation, trade facilitation and protection of national borders,” Mr Musa stated. “To achieve our strategies goals, the TCIP management team devised and implemented strategies that enhanced the command’s ability to mitigate threats of non-compliance as well as the challenges of inadequate logistics and infrastructure at the ports hitherto.”

Regarding export, he disclosed that the command’s January to August returns on Nigeria Export Proceed for commercial exports indicated 1,497,897.1 metric tonnes of goods with a free on board value of N82.5 billion (151.855.9 metric tonnes with an FOB value of N78.46 billion were exported in 2020).

According to him, the export was agricultural products and manufactured goods.

(NAN)