Customs hands over case file of vessel carrying cocaine to NDLEA

The NDLEA received a case file of a vessel carrying cocaine into the country from the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) on Tuesday, March 23, 2021.

The disclosure was made by Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Mba Musa at a news conference. He said 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, Pulse.ng reports.

“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 the 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.