this is very long but i have highlighted the points i think necessary



Panic in Customs
*Presidency orders probe
*How U.S. aided arrest
THE last is yet to be heard in the ongoing investigation into the interception by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) of 450 kilos of cocaine (worth more than N4billion) as some top politicians in the country are about to rounded up for their involvement in the drug deal, National Daily Intelligence can reveal.


This is even as there is panic at the high command of the Nigeria Customs Service for fear of an imminent shake-up over their alleged complicity in the facilitation of the clearance of the imported contraband, before men of the NDLEA busted the Cocaine syndicate.

Usually dependable sources at the anti-drug law agency's high command disclosed at the weekend that some Federal and State Lawmakers from a South Eastern State have been named as collaborators by the two Chinese and a Nigerian already in custody of the NDLEA investigating what is believed to be the agency's second largest seizure of cocaine next to the 14.2 tons made at the Tin Can Island port, in 2006. It was not immediately clear whether or not the affected politicians used their influence to compromise the Customs officials at the ports, even as the extent of their involvement is yet to be ascertained.

Although frantic efforts by this newspaper to get the actual identities of the affected politicians did not yield the desired results, it was however revealed that they may be from Enugu State.
“As we speak, our operatives have spread their dragnets across the political hotbeds of the south east of country and Abuja with a view to fishing out the politicians who have been named by the suspects in custody,” said our source. Adding, “I cannot say categorically that arrests have been made or not, but one thing that is sure is that we have made a significant breakthrough in this investigation.”
Another source who did not want to be mentioned hinted that the Federal Lawmakers involved are from the lower chamber of the National Assembly, while others are members of the House of Assembly.

When the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Alhaji Abudullahi Inde Dikko was recently conferred with the National Honour of the Member of the Federal Republic (MFR), many believed for once that Dikko's sleepless nights were now over.
All felt that the hitherto seriously embattled customs boss must have found a way to miraculously warm his way into President Goodluck Jonathan's heart or better still some highly influential Nigerians must have prevailed on the amiable President to let his certificate forgery scandal 'die a natural death' or better still, pass into oblivion.

Recent developments at the nation's sea port have however proved that peace may still be out of Dikko's grasp, as the furor over the second largest single cocaine seizure in the history of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), is still generating heat in the country's seat of power; Abuja's Aso Rock Villa.


Alhaji Inua Mohammed
National Daily can reliably disclose that the subsequent investigation into the drug-haul and the anticipated backlash has already begun to cause severe restlessness among the top hierarchy of the NCS.

The NDLEA, informed sources revealed, had forwarded an interim report on the case to the Presidency detailing the alleged confession of the suspects and the subsequent implication of some top politicians. The anti-drug law agency was said to have been given the go-ahead by the presidency to arrest and prosecute persons however highly placed that have been mentioned as collaborators.

Similarly, the Comptroller-General of the Customs has already been issued query over the possibility of the involvement of the upper echelon of the Customs in facilitating the illegal importation. The argument is that such a frightening quantity of dangerous drug could not have suddenly appeared at the nation's port and duly cleared, without the active connivance of those who mattered in the Customs. The word is that the President is furious and is demanding an explanation from the rattled customs boss.

Feelers have also shown that the upper cadre of the Nigeria Customs, particularly its Federal Operations Unit, has been thrown into disarray with the threat of a possible shake up paralyzing the highly perturbed officers.

The unsavoury fact bothering the parties involved is that the presidency hell-bent on unraveling the mystery behind the importation of such huge quantity of drug into the country and those behind the clearing of the contraband goods at the port without due process. The drag-net, National Daily intelligence scooped is fast spreading and may soon trap some customs officials.

National Daily impeccable sources at the Tin-can Port Apapa revealed that the seizure is generating ripples in the Customs over the clearing of the 450.400kilogramme of cocaine 'goods' and that “heads will surely roll.” The source was emphatic that the unease drew from an internal investigation which has exposed that the clearing was done in a shady manner with huge sums of money allegedly exchanging hands.

“Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) officials who were said to have cleared the 'killer container',” the source said, demanded N3m before allowing the container of cocaine to leave the port. Thereafter, the NDLEA operatives who were closely monitoring the movement of the cocaine from Chile intercepted the illegal cargo.”

The insider source said the “deal is really turning out to be very messy.”


Richard Wang
“Already, the barons who now risk trial and a possible conviction in Nigeria, have started singing like canary, disclosing their level of participation in the whole importation saga.” the source said.

Those currently in the NDLEA net are two Chinese business men Richard Wang, 62, a self-styled importer of textiles and shopping bags, and Chiusen Fong, 54, who claims to be a timber merchant, as well as a Nigerian, Alhaji Inua Mohammed, 56 who is the owner of the clearing agency that cleared the goods through the customs.

Inua, as the clearing agent is fondly called was said to have disclosed during interrogation that he was contacted by Richard Wang to clear the said container and freight it to Ibadan.

[b]“I am a clearing agent. Richard Wang came to me to clear a container. He told me the container was full of cigarettes and gave me N3 million for the clearance. It was after my boys cleared it out of the port that NDLEA operatives intercepted them,” Inua was quoted as saying.

But an impeccable source said that Inua's boys were very desperate about the whole affair and that it did not take those who perfected the clearing process up to 30 minutes to get the job done, raising speculations as to the possibility of the NSC at the port to look the other way, allowing the container to leave with ease. It was further gathered that Fong in his statement to his interrogators said that he gave Wang N5million to clear the container from where he was said to have paid the customs N3million. But When Wang was arrested, he said that he was working for one Chiusen Fong who lives in Kano and sensing the fact that he would not like to go down alone, it was learned that Wang tricked Fong, to the NDLEA, net by telling him that the goods had been cleared by the customs and that the NDLEA operatives were demanding the sum of N2million to enable them allow the container to leave the port, Fong rushed down to the port with N1million,promising to complete it the next day being Monday and true to his words, he appeared with the balance and walked straight into the handcuffs of the operatives. “That was how they were all nabbed'' our source revealed. The seizure of 450.400kg of cocaine imported from Chile at the Tin can Island port Lagos, agency sources revealed, was masterminded by an international drug syndicate that smuggles cocaine from South American countries to West Africa. The anti-drug Agency had kept tab on the consignment which originated from Chile and passed through Peru, Bolivia and Antwerp, Belgium to Tin Can Island Port (TCIP), Lagos in Nigeria[/b]. According to Ahmadu Giade the NDLEA boss, “the drug was neatly concealed in customized floor wood inside a container which was cleared and taken to a private warehouse at Iganmu, Lagos”. National Daily Intelligence source claimed that the arrest of the barons was made possible by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (USDEA), who supplied the day to day intelligence that led to the crackdown.

“We appreciate the assistance of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration for supplying the intelligence. I am also happy with the role played by the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) in Britain. What this signifies is a good and cordial working relationship based on mutual trust and respect. The Agency is determined to send all drug barons out of circulation to prevent criminal acts capable of disrupting peace and stability in the country. I have therefore called for total security alertness in all entry and exit points. State Commanders have also been placed on red alert to ensure effective surveillance and prompt arrests and seizures of any illicit drug shipment” Giade stressed. The NDLEA boss also commended the perseverance and commitment of the undercover officers that spent days and nights on the field in making the operation that was code-named “Operation Chile” very successful. He promised that Nigeria will not only sustain the country's leading position in drug control but also improve on it.




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