How Customs Marine Unit Trades Away Seized Drugs

BY GBOGBOWA GBOWA

Despite the commitment and zero tolerance stance of the leadership of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), its marine unit, particularly the Western Marine Command (WMC) headquartered in Lagos, has devised worrisome ways and means of colluding with illicit drugs dealers and traffickers.

But beyond compromise, the WMC and some of its officials have graduated into diverting and stealing seized substances, which began on a small-small scale, while gradually raising the  upscaling same until the audacity to steal an entire consignment of intercepted drugs on the waterways.

While reports indicate collusion with sister agencies in some cases, at opportuned moments, concerned officials of the marine unit are believed to act alone. It would appear that as the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi MFR, reinvigorate efforts at raising the bar of operational and administrative integrity aimed at achieving overall performance scorecard, some insiders driven apparently by ulterior motives and or different volition aimed at sabotaging the CGC’s agenda are active, plotting a counter design to give the service a bad name.

Perhaps, this is the only reason the Customs Area Controller of WMC, Comptroller Ntadi will pretend to be unaware of such devious and disturbing activities in the most un-concerning manner, despite evidences of being alerted.

Worried about the obvious negative impact of drugs addiction made possible through illicit distribution and supply channels, the CGC have regularly read the riot all in a bid to curtail and cap leakages; and its resultant availabilty and abuse.

His effort in this direction has been quite salutary, despite that various in-house disciplinary actions including sanctions to discourage this sort of economic crimes and brisk businesses may not have rang bells.

The latest of these incidences was on April 22, 2025, when the Bar Beach Patrol Team was believed to have intercepted a canoe load of drugs which consist of 42 sacks of Loud and Arizona at the Ajah waterways axis of the Lagos lagoon.

According to very dependable sources, armed with intelligence, the team comprising nine officers set sail for the location in two operational boats. Further acting on actionable intelligence, the team accosted the offending canoe laden with the said drugs, with four suspects onboard.

Our reporter gathered that in the ensuing encounter, three of the suspects escaped by  jumping into the water, while one was “arrested”.

The canoe was sailed to Oniru waterways end, where 35 sacks were reportedly trans-loaded into one of the operational boats which thereafter was reportedly sailed away by a non customs officer embedded in the operation, believed to be one of the command’s informant.

The team together with the remaining 7 sacks and the suspect headed back to the head office  at Ibafon-Coconut, Olodi-Apapa Lagos., while the suspect was reportedly taken into the room of one of the officers; within the officers’ residential  section of the command head office.

From finding, our reporter gathered that the case was not documented as the suspect was neither interrogated nor asked to make statements; written or verbal. Awhile later, the suspect, reportedly an Egun/Benin Rep national was asked to join some of the officers going to the operational boat that brought them in.

Information has it that five out of the seven sacks brought to the office have been removed from the boat, leaving just two sacks and one of the two Yamaha outboard engines that powered the offending canoe.

Together with the suspect, they sailed to Sagbokoji, after wharf, towards Victoria Island. On arrival at Sagbokoji, the two sacks were given to the self same informant after which the officers reportedly drove the suspect to CMS jetty, where upon arrival was discharged and asked him to go.

When our reporter contacted Comptroller Ntadi through telephone text message to get his reaction on the development, he failed to respond, a whole week before the writing of this report.

Further effort to get the Command Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Lomba to speak on the matter was also not successful as he too refused to say anything.

A week after our reporter contacted the CAC, information emerged that he has planned a press conference scheduled to hold on Monday, June 23, 2025. A little digging here and there by our reporter revealed that the intendment of the said press briefing is to discredit the facts of the said operation.

Pinnacle Time gathered that Ntadi’s office has perfected plans to attempt to insult the collective intelligence of citizens through the planned press briefing, carefully crafted to throw doubt on the said operation and to cover the alleged criminal diversion of the seized illicit substances.

Findings indicate that the street  value of a sack of the substance made up of about 80 parcels is between N5m and N8million.