Comptroller-General of NCS, Adewale Adeniyi
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has handed over 25 containers of pharmaceutical and other counterfeit substances worth N9.23 billion to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Bashir Adeniyi, confirmed this during the handover ceremony in Apapa, Lagos.
Adeniyi said the seizures represent a sophisticated network of criminal enterprises exploiting regulatory gaps to compromise national health security.
“These seizures, with an aggregate Duty Paid Value of N9.23 billion, represent a sophisticated network of criminal enterprises that deliberately exploit regulatory gaps to compromise our national health security,” he said.
The seized items include unregistered pharmaceutical products, sexual enhancement drugs, codeine-containing cough syrups, antibiotic injections, pain relief medications, and skin lightening creams.
Adeniyi said the seizures also include expired food products, veterinary medications, and consumer goods.
Adeniyi said the NCS’s intelligence network and technological capabilities have been enhanced to detect and intercept prohibited items.
He commended the operatives at the Apapa Port Command for their vigilance and professionalism.
The Assistant Director of NAFDAC in Charge of Ports, Ayobami Ibrahim, commended the NCS’s effort in fighting illicit substances.
“Fake drugs can be detected if they fail laboratory tests. Some illicit substances find their ways to the market but with the support of Customs, we are able to confiscate them when intercepted,” he said.
