Argentine customs seize Nigeria-bound N4bn cocaine

Customs authorities in Argentina have intercepted and confiscated more than 500 kg of cocaine being transported to Nigeria.

Argentina’s Customs Agency confirmed that the cocaine which was discovered by two sniffer dogs was tightly packed into 490 brightly coloured bricks and stuffed into heavy dredging equipment meant to be flown from the international airport in Buenos Aires to an oil company in Lagos.

The Associated Press reports that the estimated worth of the seized drugs in the European market was put at about $25m (N4bn).

The Director-General of the agency, Maria Siomara Ayeran, however, disclosed that the company, whose name was used in Nigeria, does not exist.

Narrating how the haul was made, the DG said after the consignment had been identified by the dogs, Tota and Gala, the machinery was opened by officers on Thursday evening and was found to contain 536 kg of pure cocaine inside thick walls of lead and steel.

She, however, said the final destination of the drugs might not be Nigeria.

According to her, that was the first time the Argentine government was confiscating such a large shipment of cocaine being smuggled by air from Buenos Aires to Nigeria.

Ayeran added that the suspects were known to investigators and the case was handed over to a judge who ordered six pre-dawn raids to accumulate more evidence.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Argentina are still keeping the identities of the exporter and the Nigerian company under wraps as investigations are still ongoing.

via Punch