At the Apapa Port, customs officers found illegal medicines worth a lot of money, N1.1 billion. These drugs were in four big boxes.
The customs boss, named Babatunde Olomu, explained that these illegal items were mainly cough syrup with a drug called codeine and another syrup called barkadin. They found these during their regular checks at Apapa’s APM Terminals and Kachicares Bonded Terminal.
The customs team discovered 236,783 bottles of cough syrup inside 2,174 big boxes. Three of these big boxes were at APM Terminals, and one was at Kachicares Bonded Terminal.
More About What They Found
On October 11, 2024, officers found sneaky CSP cough syrup in a big box numbered MRKU0377493. This box had 34,800 bottles of cough syrup packed inside 174 smaller boxes. Each smaller box had 200 bottles.
Olomu mentioned, “These sneaky drugs were also expired,” which is very dangerous.
On the same day, they checked another big box, TGBU8886020, which had 39,700 bottles of DSP cough syrup. Each smaller box inside had 100 bottles of syrup.
On October 15, 2024, another big box, TCKU6800526, was checked. It was supposed to have important goods, but instead, there were 19 boxes of CSJ cough syrup, which helps with throat and chesty coughs and contains codeine, with 200 bottles per box.
At Kachicares Bonded Terminal, another big box with the number SUDU8579006 was said to have kitchen stuff. But when they looked inside on October 15, 2024, they found Barcadin cough syrup for throat and chesty cough. “They found 1,584 smaller boxes and 83 extra loose bottles,” Olomu explained.
No Smuggling Allowed
Olomu stressed that they do not allow any smuggling. He said, “We will not let anything affect our duty to collect revenue and stop smuggling while helping with trade.”
Olomu warned all people trying to sneak things in not to do it at Apapa Port because officers are watching closely with their intelligence, gadgets, and skills to find any sneaky activities.
Why Codeine is Dangerous
Using codeine the wrong way has been a big health problem in Nigeria, which is why in 2018, the government said no more importing it. Olomu explained that codeine can make people feel sick, tired, not able to focus, and act without thinking.
“People who misuse codeine might feel like throwing up or sleeping a lot. They might not think straight and do silly things, sometimes even criminal activities,” he said.
Olomu also said these tricky drugs can cause bad behavior and crimes, which is dangerous for everyone.
After finding these illegal items, Comptroller Olomu said they are still looking into the matter to find out more and, hopefully, catch the people bringing in these illegal goods.