The fight against unregistered and fake drugs being imported into the country will be intensified at the nation’s seaports, Strike Force Unit of the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) declared in Lagos yesterday.
Coordinator of the unit, Deputy Comptroller, Ahmadu Shuaibu made the declaration while disclosing that his team intercepted such drugs and also recovered the sum of N426.4million as debit note collected on cargoes that were under-declared at the seaport.Shuaibu added that also impounded were super market goods, smuggled foreign parboiled rice among others smuggled items intercepted by the unit.He said, “sequel to conscientious documentary checks, the ICT component of the team recovered the sum of N426.4 million from demand notices (DN) raised within April till yesterday.
The money recovered from demand notices could have been lost to unscrupulous importers.”He said the seizures are products of credible intelligence and meticulous documentary checks, adding that the Government’s rationale for prohibiting the importation/exportation of some of these goods is to safeguard the nation’s socio-economic and health wellbeing.
While giving the breakdown of he seizures made within the period under review, he said the seizures include, 575 bales of secondhand clothing, 1,1440 cartons of supermarket goods, 664 cartons of drugs without NAFDAC number, 530 cartons of foot wears and 1,600 bags of foreign parboiled rice.The Deputy Comptroller decried unlawful importation of textile materials into the country, adding that importation are killing the nation’s textile industries and jobs meant for teeming youth in the country.
