How we intercepted 165kg of cocaine- Customs

By Godfrey Bivbere
Customs Area Controller, CAC, Tin Can Port Command of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, Mr. Austin Warikoru, Sunday gave details of how they intercepted 165 kilograms of substance, suspected to be Cocaine at the Command, last week.

Warikoro explained that the substance were found in a 20-foot container with serial number MSCU 128723/1 and was brought in aboard MV JASMINE from Bolivia.

The Customs boss told Vanguard, that the United Kingdom’s border agency anti-smuggling unit had informed them that the container was headed for Nigeria and they mounted surveillance on the ship until it arrived the country on December 25, last year.

He explained that NCS alone would have gone ahead to do the examination but noted that “we did not want to boggle the investigation, so we passed the information to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, State Security Services, SSS, and other security agencies.”

According to him,  examination commenced at about 11:00a.m. and was completed at about  3:00p.m. At the end, the  drugs, four wraps per cartoons with each wrap weighing 1.1 kilogrammes and parked in 36 cartoons, were discovered.

$11.2m street value

Warikoru said: “The quantity is frightening and the street value of 11.2 million dollars paints a horrendous picture of the illicit drug trade.”

He assured Nigerians that investigations were ongoing, adding that those involved in the illegal business would be prosecuted. He commended Customs officers and other security agents at the port for a job well done.