The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa Area Command, Lagos, has seized lion bones and pangolin scales worth N952 million.
The Customs
Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Mohammed Abba-Kura, disclosed that
the items were billed for export to Vietnam when they were intercepted.
Speaking
during a press briefing yesterday, Abba-Kura said the contrabands were in a
20-feet container with number CSLU 2362640, heading to Haiphong, Vietnam.
He said the
items, comprising 162 sacks of pangolin scales weighing 8,800kgs and 57 sacks
of mixed endangered species of various sizes such as ivory/animal horns, lion
bones and others were falsely declared as furniture components.
He added that
the total weight of the items stood at 854,719 tonnes, valued at N952 million.
He said that
an agent had been arrested and detained after an unnamed lady was picked by
operatives.
The
comptroller said that after due investigation, the customs service headquarters
would take appropriate against the suspects, saying: ‘’The Convention of
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES 1973) entails that Customs
Administration all over the world protect wildlife by intercepting illegal
trade on such animals.
No comments:
Post a Comment