Customs nabs two officers over alleged importation of 30 containers of Tramadol

By ZION Olalekan |

The Nigeria Customs Service has intercepted about thirty containers of Tramadol drugs at the Apapa Port, even as one customs officer and a retired Customs Area Controller were reported to have been arrested in connection with the seizures.

Though sources at the port yesterday confirmed that the containers were intercepted at the APM terminals inside Apapa port, the identity of the officers involved could not be confirmed. They have since been hauled to customs headquarters in Abuja.

The street value of a single container of the tramadol is said to worth over N1Billion while the thirty three containers run into billions of Naira.

According to a reliable source, a customs officer was arrested at FOU Ikeja on Tuesday and he immediately spilled the beans on his colleagues involved in the drug trafficking racket, including a former controller.

The officer confessed to have received N100million bribe in order to allow some of the containers of tramadol escape from the port.

Meanwhile, the Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali was expected in Lagos yesterday in connection with the seizures but Customs sources said he has rescheduled his visit.

The CGC was expected to present certificates today to some public relations officers of customs who were attending training since Monday at the Customs Training College, Ikeja.

When contacted the Public Relations Officer of Apapa Customs Nkiruka Nwala, confirmed that seizure of tramadol is a regular seizure at the command.

She told our correspondent that “We would communicate at the right time, arresting tramadol is everyday work, but you need permission for you to talk to the press that is what we do on everyday basis but the full details would be given out at the right time.

“I don’t know your source, but we would communicate at the right time and that is all I can tell you, if we seize it, is it not to our credit? Everything is in process, at the right time, we would communicate with you” Nkiruka stated.

Also when they were contacted for information on the CG visit, the Tin Can Island command spokesman, Uche Ejesieme and the FOU Zone A command Public Relations officer, Jerry Attah said they have not been in office due to the ongoing training in Ikeja.