Customs, NAFDAC destroy N14.7b Tramadol and other illicit drugs in Ogun State

58 containers of banned Tramadol and other illicit drugs worth N14.7 billion in Ogun state are said to have been destroyed by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Tramadol and other fake/ illicit drugs were intercepted at the various Customs formations in Lagos and other parts of the country, concise news reports.

Speaking at the destruction exercise at Sagamu dumpsite, Ogun State, yesterday, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, condemned the activities of smugglers who import banned drugs and other harmful substances into Nigeria.

However, the Assistant Comptroller of Customs in charge of Enforcement, Inspection, and Investigation (E,I&I) Aminu Dahiru, who is the committee chairman, said the seizures have in no small way prevented social vices such as kidnapping, armed robbery, banditry and other associated crimes threatening the peace and security of the country.

The exercise in Ogun State was witnessed by NAFDAC and ACG Dahiru, who lamented the drugs would have caused collateral damages allowed to be sneaked into the society via smuggling.

According to him, a total of 58 containers of tramadol and other dangerous and unregistered pharmaceuticals with a duty paid value of N14,706,032,871 were seized by various commands of the Nigerian Customs Service.

He assured similar exercises would be carried out at the Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Bauchi zones of Nigeria Customs Service in due course.

The destroyed drugs, he said, constitute just meagre number among the numerous seizures, already handed over to NAFDAC and NDLEA for destruction in the past.

These quantities of seizures recorded by NCS officers, he noted, have not been without some cost of series of threats, attacks, maiming and even killings of officers.