Navy hands over seized Indian hemp worth N120m to NDLEA

Navy hands over seized Indian hemp worth N120m to NDLEA

Olaitan Ogundele

The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT handed over more than 60 bags of seized Indian hemp with estimated street value of N120 million to the NDLEA on Monday in Lagos.

The Indian hemp which weighed more than 2.5 tons was handed over to the Deputy Commander Narcotics, at the NDLEA Lagos command, Mr Austin Opiepe by Commander of the ship, Commodore Kolawole Oguntuga.

Oguntuga said the exercise was a further testimony to interagency collaboration in the continued fight against illegalities in the maritime environment.

“The Navy has deployed a lot of assets, including electro-optical devices, which have improved round-the-clock survey of Nigeria’s maritime domain.

“The devices enabled the Navy to detect a large wooden boat carrying the narcotics at Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos State.

“We are handing over these items to the appropriate agency in charge of narcotics which is the NDLEA,’’ Oguntuga said.

He assured the public that the Nigerian Navy in collaboration with appropriate agencies would not leave any stone unturned to ensure a maritime environment conducive for businesses to thrive.

“We will keep going after these unscrupulous people perpetrating illegalities and bring them to book.

“We will continue to work assiduously to rid the maritime environment of illegalities because we understand the nexus between drug abuse, criminality and violence,’’ the commander said.

Bags of confiscated Indian hemp
Responding, Opiepe noted that the NDLEA and the Nigerian Navy had a cordial working relationship which had led to the seizure of many bags of Indian hemp and other illicit drugs in the past.

He assured that the NDLEA would destroy the Indian hemp after obtaining court approvals. (NAN)