The CG of Customs, Col Ali (Rtd.) centre addressing the press.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The battle by the officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service against smuggling and illicit trade has continued to yield results as the officers of the Controller General of Customs Strike Force have made record seizures of elephant tusks, pangolin scales and claws.
The Controller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) in a press briefing which took place today at the Customs Training School Ikeja, Lagos said “I am happy to announce that our extensive collaboration yielded credible intelligence that triggered swift and comprehensive actions by the Customs Intelligence Unit and the Headquarters Strike Force. This led to the evacuation of sacks of different kilogrammes of Pangolin scales and Elephant tusks at a location on the Eastern side of Ijeoma street, Lekki, Lagos State”.
The Tusks, Scales and Claws on display.
The CGC revealed that at examination of the various sacks, 17,137.40 kilogrammes of Pangolin scales were concealed in a total of 196 sacks; 870.44 kilogrammes of Elephant tusks as well as 4.60 kilogrammes of Pangolin claws were also discovered in some other sacks.
DC Shuiab (centre) with other officers.
Col. Ali (Rtd) also disclosed that the estimated value of all the seizures is put at Twenty Two Billion, Two Hundred And Eighty Million, Seven Hundred And Forty Seven Thousand, Eight Hundred And Fifty Naira (#22,283,747,850.00) Only. He added that the “Seizure is in line with section 63 “e” and “g” of CEMA, Cap 45 LFN 2004 as amended. The CG stated that this law falls under the Export prohibition schedule V1 of the extant Common External Tariff which prohibits their exportation and that Nigeria is a signatory to CITES convention hence cannot be used as a transit hub”.
Samples of the Seizure.
The CGC also revealed that three suspects who are non-nationals have been arrested and that they are Traore Djakonba, Isiak Musa and Mohammed Bereta, though he added that the kingpin, one Berete Morybinet is on the run as of the moment. The suspects according to the CGC will soon be charged to court.
More picture of the Seizure.
It is worthy of note to point out that Nigeria is in collaboration with the embassies of the United States of America, United Kingdom and Germany as well as other international bodies who are willing to join the quarterly meetings that provide platform for shared experiences.
The CGC Strike Force is headed by the untiring and very focused Deputy Controller of Customs Ahmadu Shuaib who has been in the forefront of seeking out a lot of illicit trades and smuggler’s points through credible intelligence and sagacious decisions. It was these qualities as well as his humorous disposition that have endeared him to all thereby giving him access to valuable information.
The CGC in his speech thanked the Wildlife Justice Commission and assured of treating every credible information with the utmost confidentiality and swift action to stem the tide of the illegality.
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