Customs hands over case file of vessel carrying cocaine to NDLEA

The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) handed over a case file of a vessel carrying cocaine into Nigeria to the NDLEA on Tuesday in Lagos..

Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Mba Musa, told a news conference that the cocaine was contained in a vessel MV SPAR SCORPIO which also carried 42,000 tonnes of raw sugar from Brazil.

He said the vessel discharged two bags of forty packages suspected to be hard drugs at one of the terminals at the Tin Can Island Port on Feb. 8

“The vessel came in with a crew list of 20 and had visited eleven ports including Brazil, USA, Panama and South Korea before it came into Nigeria. It did not report carrying any drug.

“The terminal operators promptly alerted the Nigerian Ports Authority of their find and the latter notified the NDLEA which took possession of the substances.

“The vessel was subsequently detained and the suspects confined to it as investigation continued,’’ he said,

Mr Smart Akande, NCS Legal Adviser, said that the essential part of the event was to demonstrate NCS collaboration with sister agencies,

“We are mindful of the fact that the mandate to prosecute and investigate for drugs is expressively preserved for NDLEA.

“When we discovered these drugs and investigation commenced, we did our part and now we are handing over to the NDLEA, the suspects and the ship.

In his remarks, Mr Adeofe Adeyemi, Director of Operations and General Investigation at the NDLEA, thanked the NCS for the handover and the synergy with the anti-drug agency.