The Marine Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has seized cannabis hidden inside a locally built canoe, after its sailors snuck the illicit drug into Nigeria.
The seized illicit substance weighed 4,500kg and valued at N150 million, operatives of the service have said.
The Customs Area Comptroller, Western Marine Command, Yusuf Umar, said the operation that led to the arrest of one of the suspects and the seizure of the consignments began February when the NCS was tipped that some smugglers were trying to shift their route from the road to waterways to beat the numerous security points along the highway.
Umar said that the drug traffickers have earlier approached owners of wooden boats operating between Badagry and Port Novo, Benin Republic, to transport Ghanian type of cannabis (Skonk) that is fast replacing locally grown one.
He said investigators traced the boat’s route and eventually caught the smugglers along Igbo-Ojanla, near Badagry on February 9, 2016.
He said: “The smugglers had engaged the operatives in a bloody shootout, some of them escaped through the murky waters into the bush while one of them was arrested.
“He will soon face drug trafficking charges and other charges violating the laws of the land.”
Controller Umar disclosed that the intercepted substance suspected to be Indian hemp weighed 4,500kg while the market value is put at over N150m.
He said the substance was handed over to the Lagos State NDLEA Commander, Alhaji Sule Aliyu.
