The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT on Wednesday handed over 187 bags of cannabis sativa to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in a display of inter-agency collaboration.
The commander of the ship, Commodore Kolawole Oguntuga, handed over the substance to officials of the NDLEA at NNS BEECROFT, Apapa, Lagos.
Oguntuga said that the principle of burden sharing toward curbing crime and criminality in the maritime environment was a key priority of Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) Vice Adm. Emmanuel Ogalla.
He added that the substances were confiscated from Badagry Creek and Eleko Beach in Lekki.
“We have been collaborating with the NDLEA toward securing the maritime environment for economic prosperity.
“This is part of the achievement under the ongoing Operation Water Guard, particularly with the deployment of the state-of-the-art maritime domain awareness facility, the Falcon Eye.
“We were able to detect these economic saboteurs bringing this contraband from different angles within the maritime environment,” the commander said.
Oguntuga assured Nigerians that the Navy would continue to go after the perpetrators of these crimes and prevent illicit substances from coming into the country.
“The Nigerian Navy, in collaboration with the NDLEA, will continue to ensure that this act is stopped and that our country is made a better country.
“Ill-gotten money is usually used to sponsor violence, criminality, and other vices; also, the use of drugs has a negative effect on the addict, with dire consequences for national security.
“I advice parents to follow up on their children in order to know what their wards are doing so as to curb all these menaces in the country,” he said.
Also, Commander of Narcotics, Marine Command, NDLEA, Paul Ahom, put the market value of the seized substance at over N200 million.
“The end of the year is usually a peak period for the transportation of drugs into the country to make financial gains and sponsor all manner of crimes perpetrated on the streets of Nigeria.
“The influx of cross-border drug trafficking from Ghana and Togo via the Republic of Benin to Nigeria has become a great challenge to coastal interagency maritime policing.
“However, the NDLEA has established a robust relationship with the NNS Beecroft; that is why the evidence is demonstrated today in the handing over of this large number of seizures to the NDLEA,” Ahom said.
(NAN)
