By Chinonye Anyatonwu
The Customs Area Controller of the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Hammi Swomen has indicated that the Command intercepted two 40ft containers carrying prohibited items.
He stated that the shared intelligence between the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and other agencies within the Ports yielded the discovery of those unregistered
drugs which originated from India, according to Swomen does not have NAFDAC approval number but was labelled “for export only”.
The 2 x 40FT containers No.s HLBU1067338 and HLBU2239792 were manifested to be carrying HOT POT (INSULATED PLASTIC) but on examination were found to contain the following;
pharmaceutical products, 2,875 cartons of cough syrup containing Codein and 383 cartons of Hyergra (Viagra 220mg) 99 cartons of Deluxe chilly cutter (manual blender).
The duty paid value of the seized items is put at Two Hundred and Twelve Million, Seven Hundred and Seventy Seven Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty Naira (#N212,777,950.00) only.
Comptroller Swomen clarified that there was no approval whatsoever for the items by any of the approving agencies of government either for the importation or registration of any of the seized items.
He called for continued collaboration with all sister agencies as he thanked the media and the general public for the credible and useful information they relay to the Command
On revenue performance of the command, Compt. Swomen said it generated a total sum of N3,774,386,866 billion in the month of January 2022 when compared to N2,501,324,171billion collected as revenue in January 2021 with a surplus of N1,273,062,675 which represents a 34% increase in revenue generated.
