The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, has recovered N5.50 billion in unpaid duties and seized contraband worth N2.35 billion in eight weeks.
The seizures include 3,340 parcels of cannabis indica, known as _Ghanaian loud_, weighing 1,540kg, and 6.4kg of cocaine and methamphetamine intercepted on April 30 along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor.
Comptroller G.I. Aliyu, Customs Area Controller of the unit, disclosed this at a press briefing in Lagos on Tuesday.
He said officers also intercepted 473 smuggling attempts involving 8,794 bags of rice, 22 used vehicles, 1,863 used refrigerator compressors, 328 bales of used clothing, 1,188 kegs of vegetable oil and 31,705 litres of petrol, among other items.
The drugs were concealed in a Toyota Highlander driven by 71-year-old Oni Iredia Martins and were valued at about N2.35 billion, Aliyu said.
The 1,540kg cannabis and 6.4kg of cocaine and methamphetamine will be handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, for prosecution.
The unit also seized four cylinders of mercury, a controlled chemical under the Minamata Convention, hidden in the false bottom of a Toyota Avensis at the Gbaji outpost. The suspect was granted administrative bail as investigations continue, and the items will be transferred to the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, NESREA.
Aliyu said the results came from improved surveillance, intelligence sharing and inter-agency collaboration under _Operation Hawk_, launched to disrupt drug and contraband supply chains.
He said the unit recovered N5.50 billion through demand notices and post-clearance audits between February 3 and April 28, 2026, describing it as evidence of sustained enforcement of fiscal policies.
Another N97.7 million was recovered within the same period.
The comptroller added that the unit is advancing digitization through geospatial intelligence, including GIS, satellite imagery, drone surveillance and real-time vehicle tracking to map smuggling hotspots across Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Ondo states.
The new command headquarters at Iperu, Ogun State, will host an advanced command and control centre for data analytics and inter-agency collaboration.
