Fight against contraband: Tiko customs seize, destroy 1.548 cartons of illegal drugs, cigarettes, non-biodegradable plastic

Custom officials at the Tiko river port under the supervision of the Divisional Officer for Tiko, Anuafor Cletus Asongwe, last Wednesday destroyed tons of illegal and harmful drugs including cartons of cigarette and tons o non-biodegradable plastic bags smuggled into the country despite the ban on the products by the government.

The items said to have been seized by the department from December 1, 2017 to February 28, 2018 comprises of 766 cartons of banned drugs among them; Ceraizone1g, Tramadol tablet 250, Hetrac 250 mg, Ranferon-12, Gebedol, Cotrim 480mg,Quinine Sirop, Potassium chloride injection, Syrop of Hemoglobin with vitamin B12ml and Emvite among dozen others.

Tiko DO and Tiko Customs Boss monitored the destruction process from start till end

Equally during the over twenty-two operations carried out by the customs service which led to the seizure of the over 1.548 cartons of contraband products estimated at 108.000.000 FCFA, some 158 cartons of noncertified cigarettes and 624 bags of non-biodegradable plastics bags were equally seized.

All the cartons of the illegal harmful drugs and cigarettes were taken out of the Tiko district and set ablaze but for the non-biodegradable plastics bags which were merely destroyed with assistance from the South West regional delegation of the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development and taken to a recycling company for the production of biodegradables.

When this reporter visited the Tiko river port, the Brigade chief, Salihou Koda Mauma as well as the chief of Squard Ngong Linus Chai narrated that despite the ban on the importation of certain products, some businessmen shun the ban and go as far as importing large quantities of the products.

To effectively carry out their duties and ensure that Cameroonians are save from the hands of these business operators who import just anything with the aim of making money, chief of Squard Ngong Linus Chai told this reporter that they have double their patrols and all goods that come into Cameroon through Tiko are well checked to ensure that they are in conformity with the laws.

Fourou Kerbai Ferdinand, chief of the Tiko customs service in a chat with pressmen emphasised that all the seized goods were contraband products whose negative effect on its consumers could not be over emphasised.

To him, his team was very determined to fight all contrabands and effectively implement government’s decisions at the boarders.

Tiko Custom chief of center

This he added is to ensure that noting but the right products are imported into Cameroon. Quizzed on were the contraband products are imported from, the Customs boss narrated that most of the banned products are imported from neighboring Nigeria.

Monitoring the destruction of the seized items, the Divisional Officer for Tiko, Anuafor Cletus Asongwe commeded the vigilance of the customs department whom he urged to not relent in their efforts in protecting the millions of Cameroonian lives.

Before the contraband products were set ablaze, officials from the Ministry of Health as well as that of Environment carried out studies to ensure that no lives will be affected with the toxic fumes produce by the destroyed items.