The Nigeria Customs Services (NCS), has stopped the stemming of containers laden with pharmaceutical products to bonded terminals, due to allegation of trade malpractices.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniy, announced this on Friday in Lagos, at a handover ceremony of 25 containers of pharmaceutical products seized by the Apapa Command of the Customs to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC).
Adeniyi disclosed that the sins of some of the bonded terminals include violation of trade laws.
He said that henceforth, every pharmaceutical product would be released only in designated ports of Apapa, Tin Can, PTML and Onne Ports, as a deliberate measure to check trade abuse in the bonded terminals.
The CGC affirmed that the Customs Service would not continue to allow such violations, as he revealed that some of the bonded terminals were currently being investigated, adding that only things that are in line with trade laws could be tolerated.
He said that about N1.5bn was recovered from one of the bonded terminals, while another N1.6bn is expected to be recovered from another bonded terminal operator.
Adeniyi also stated that the Customs Service would review the licensing fees paid by the bonded terminals, adding that this had not been done for about a decade.
At Apapa port, Lagos, the Customs Command handed over 25 containers laden with counterfeit medications, unregistered pharmaceutical products and prohibited substances, including codeine based preparations that pose imminent danger to public health, and worth N9.2bn to NAFDAC.
The containers seized by the Apapa Command of the Customs under Comptroller Babatunde Olomu, include 21 40 ft containers and four 20ft containers, containing predominantly unregistered products, sexual enhancement drugs such as REDSON and Hyegra sildenafil citrate injections.
The CGC disclosed that the operational synergy developed with NAFDAC reflects strategic collaboration at its finest with the DG providing critical intelligence even at midnight about suspicious importations that proves decisive to the anti-smuggling operations of the Service.
He said that the two agencies remain uncompromisingly committed to the battle against merchants of death who pursue illicit profits from businesses that destroy lives and communities.
According to him, joint operations under the coordination of the Office of the National Security Adviser has recorded seizures of 200 containers followed by coordinated destruction exercises.
“The items were unregistered pharmaceutitcal products comprising 63.7 percent of seizure values, highlighting the scale of threats that could have inflicted devastating damage on human lives and our social ecosystem if permitted to infiltrate the markets,” he said.
He warned, “where it is discovered that haulage operators, bonded terminal owners or any other trade facilitators are complicit in there illegal activities, such persons or companies will face the full weight of the law. Our intelligence network and technological capabilities have been significantly enhanced to detect and intercept prohibited items regardless of concealment methods to detect and intercept prohibited items regardless of concealment methods or documentation subterfuge”
