The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECFROFT on Tuesday handed over 85 bags of illicit substance suspected to be cannabis sativa to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Navy Capt. Mutalib Raji, Executive Officer, NNS BEECFROFT, disclosed this at the handing over which was held at NNS BEECFROFT, Apapa, Lagos State.
Raji, who represented the Commander of the ship, Commodore Rafiu Oladejo, said that each bag weighed 85kg.
The captain said that the illicit substances were arrested on July 14 due to actionable intelligence by the combined team of Quick Response Team in the base and Deep Blue Boats.
“We got credible intelligence about some individuals who were seen at Mobile Beach offloading the items thereby, deployed our men to go there for investigation and arrest.
“They met the criminals offloading the bags of cannabis sativa but on sighting our men, the criminals fled, leaving their boat and items behind.
“About 60 bags of cannabis sativa were initially arrested but as we combed the entire area, 25 other bags were discovered,” he said.
Raji said that an investigation was ongoing to determine the source of the items and those behind the illicit act.
According to the NDLEA Marine Commander, Paul Ahom, intelligence has it that most of the drugs are loaded from Togo and Ghana en route Republic of Benin down to Nigerian waterways.
“However, if there is no lead or suspect arrested in the operation, it makes it difficult for us to ascertain the route of where these substances are coming from,” he said.
Ahom said that the market value of the drugs would be close to N400 million and its effects on society could be quite devastating.
“Most of the hoodlums, kidnappers, terrorists among other criminal elements become fearless when they take these drugs and use this charged-up energy to carry out their nefarious activities.
“I urge people to desist from drug trafficking because it can put the whole country into disrepute, cripple the financial capacity of the country and has destroyed many families.
“A lot of deviant behaviours on our street occur mostly from the use and abuse of illicit drugs. So, I advise both the user and peddler to desist from it,” he said.
He said that if they didn’t, the long arm of the government would catch up with them and that they would be brought to book.
“I thank the efforts of NNS BEECFROFT for joining us in policing crime and illicit trafficking on our waterways as well as tracking down syndicates that ferry drugs into Nigeria.
“The Nigerian Navy in collaboration with the NDLEA is working tirelessly particularly in the marine domain to curtail the influx of these illicit substances into our waterways,” Ahom said. (NAN).
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