N13bn drugs, military hardware seized at Lagos airport

The Murtala Muhammed Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has said it intercepted hard drugs, and military and police hardware at the cargo section of the airport.

Addressing journalists at the command in Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, the Customs Area Controller, Sambo Dangaladima, said 162 cartons of banned tramadol hydrochloride 225 and 250mg, military and police hardware were intercepted at the Skyway Aviation Handling Company.

Explaining further, he said the drugs originated from India and Pakistan and were routed through Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.

Dangaladima said the drugs had an estimated duty-paid value of N13.8bn.

He said, “These milligrams (225 and 250mg) are above allowable thresholds as contained in extant laws. The hard drugs originated from India and Pakistan and they were routed through Addis-Ababa to Lagos.

“In summary, we have a total of 162 cartons, 92,387 packs, 929,970 sachets, and 9,299,700 tablets of tramadol hydrochloride with a value of N13.8bn.”

He noted that the command would hand over the seized drugs to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

The customs boss said 309 pieces of military helmets, 106 pieces of military armless jackets, 352 pieces of ballistic body armored pads, and 119 pieces of police badges were also intercepted by the command.

Others are five pieces of bullet-proof jackets, 33 pieces of body side ballistic pads, and 105 pieces of ballistic chest plates.

“The suspect connected to this importation could not provide the end user certificate which is the lawful prerequisite for such importation. We have detained the suspects and the military wares, while the investigation is ongoing.

“We are very mindful of the fact that 2023 is an election year in Nigeria; the inflow of traffic of these hard drugs that induce our youths to do extraordinary things (when taken) are bound to increase,” he added.

Meanwhile, the command stated that it generated N69bn between January and December 2022.