The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have disagreed over a missing container of substances suspected to be Indian hemp.
While the Customs denied the whereabouts of any container loaded with illicit drugs including Indian hemp allegedly confiscated and detained at the Kano zonal command, the NDLEA insisted that no illicit substances in their custody were released.
Speaking yesterday at Senate roundtable on drugs in Kano, a university lecturer with the Bayero University Kano (BUK), Dr. Bala Usman, alleged that a container loaded with the illicit drugs that was confiscated in Lagos Port and moved to Kano, could not be found.
Bala, who petitioned the Senate roundtable, demanded full investigation of the matter to determine the whereabouts of the container at the Customs Kano zonal office.
“In November, the Customs made a seizure of a 40-foot container loaded with cannabis and headed for Kano and arrests were made but the question is where is the container and those arrested?” he asked.
Also, the chief of Staff to the Senate President, Baba Ahmed told the NDLEA to respond to the series of allegations of seized but missing substances in their custody.
But refuting the allegations, Customs Deputy Controller, Enforcement, Kano zonal office, A.H. Agbo, insisted that there was no time the zonal office took delivery of any such container from Lagos.
He explained that Customs only arrested illegal substances worth N60 million, saying discussions had been concluded to handover the exhibit to the NDLEA.
Responding, Kano Commander of NDLEA, Hamza Umar, said the command in recent times burnt illicit drugs worth billions of Naira.
He, however, denied releasing any seized drugs in Kano.
