The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has handed over various consignments of hard drugs seized more than three decades ago to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Mr Bashir Adewale-Adeniyi, disclosed this on Friday in Kano while overseeing a warehouse clearance exercise at a Customs facility.
He said the exercise was part of efforts to clear and renovate old Customs warehouses that had been in use since the 1980s.
He explained that during the renovation, officers discovered a locked cabinet that had been handed over from one generation of Customs officers to another, with no key available.
According to him, the cabinet was traced back to seizures made in 1986 and 1987 and had remained securely stored over the years.
“The officers contacted me in Abuja for a directive. The first thing we did was to ensure that the items were not explosive. Our colleagues from the Nigeria Police conducted tests and confirmed they were not,” he said.
The CGC said he subsequently directed that the cabinet be forced open, leading to the discovery of several categories of hard drugs.
He listed the items to include cannabis sativa comprising six blocks and three slabs with a total weight of 16.4 kg, which tested positive after analysis by the NDLEA.
Adewale-Adeniyi said another seizure was quinal barbitone sodium, 100 milligram capsules, totalling 52,168 capsules with a combined weight of 14.6 kilogrammes, noting that further forensic analysis was ongoing.
He added that permuline tablets weighing 246 grams also tested positive, while a whitish substance weighing about 2.4 kg initially tested negative on the field but was undergoing further forensic examination.
The CGC said the last item was 220.01 grams of substances arranged in parcels, which tested positive for heroin.
“This happened over 30 years ago, even before the NDLEA was established. If the agency had existed at the time, custody would likely have been transferred earlier,” he said.
He stressed that the exhibits had been kept safely under Customs custody without exposure or diversion, describing it as a reflection of improved exhibit management over the years.
Adewale-Adeniyi said the items were now being formally handed over to the NDLEA to continue with investigations and necessary laboratory tests.
He noted that although the drugs might have lost some potency due to age, the NDLEA would still subject them to thorough testing.
He added that the agency would not attach monetary value to the drugs, given changes in market value over the years, but would focus on proper documentation, testing and disposal in line with the law.
Speaking on behalf of the NDLEA Kano Strategic Command, the Deputy Commander, Operations and Training, Mr Bello Garba-Jabo, who represented the Commander, Mr Dahiru Yahaya Lawal, commended the NCS for safeguarding the drugs for decades.
He described the long custody of the exhibits as evidence of the operational burden borne by Customs before the establishment of the NDLEA.
“We sincerely appreciate the Comptroller-General and the Nigeria Customs Service for keeping these items under lock and key and for handing them over now that there is a specialised agency to handle such matters,” he said.
