After intercepting one billion FCFA-worth cocaine: Customs seizes Tramadol worth 700 million FCFA at Douala Int’l Airport.

According to information relayed by the Communication Service of the Customs Directorate General, the seizure was made during an operation conducted by officers of the Douala Airport Customs Commercial Subdivision, led by Captain Gabriel Ngha Nforand. 

It was done under the supervision of the Acting Head of the Littoral II Customs Sector, Jean Patrice Hissoak Bonguen.

The goods are said to have been intercepted at about 5:30p.m. that day, in the cargo area of Douala International Airport. 

The tablets were said to have been loaded into 14 parcels, containing 8,400,000 Tramadol tablets, worth 700,000,000 FCFA. 

The impounded consignment was offloaded from a flight from South Sudan. The unlabeled parcels with a wrong telephone number tag to it, we gathered, drew the attention of the officers to investigate its content.

Sources say the seized consignment has been handed over to judicial authorities for further proceedings. 

It is however unclear if the traffickers were also arrested. 

It should be recalled that Tuesday’s seizure comes barely days after another similar illegal goods was intercepted at the Douala International Airport.

A substantial shipment of cocaine, worth 24kg, was captured May 31, by the same customs brigade. The drug had been disguised in cargo of shoes shipped from Sao Paulo, in Brazil, to Douala.

Upon inspection of some eight packages weighing a total of 166 kilograms, customs officers found out that the shoes and handbags featured wooden handles.

The illicit drugs were later handed over to the State Prosecutor of the Bonanjo High Court in Douala, for further investigations and legal proceedings. 

The seizure comes barely days after the Douala Customs officers intercepted 15kg of cocaine, bound for Sri Lanka, in South Asia, worth one billion FCFA. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No3133 of Thursday June 06, 2024