Customs Area Comptroller in charge of
Calabar Free Trade Zone, Cross River and
Akwa Ibom Command, Mrs. Nanbyen
Burromvyat, has said the command
intercepted three consignments containing
140 species of snakes imported into Nigeria.
Also, the command intercepted 600 animals,
made up of geckos, millipedes, hairy frogs
and spiders, in the containers.
The items were said to have been imported
from Cameroon and were intercepted by
officers on July 24, 2017, on arrival at the
NIWA jetty, with a market value of N6.9
million.
Burromvyat said the consignments, which
were Lagos-bound, were prohibited items,
under Schedule 3 of the Revised Import
Prohibition List (Trade) in the Common
External Tariff.
A list of the items contained in the
packaging list had snakes such as Atheris
squamigera, Bitis gobanica, Dasypeltis ssp,
Boiga pulverinata, among others, while the
geckos were Hemidactylus frenatus and
Hemidactylus fasciatus.
Though the containers were not opened for
fear of escape, Burromvyat handed over the
items and the two suspects to authorities of
the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services
for investigation.
She said: “These containers have animals of
different sizes. They were brought in on July
24, 2017, through this Calabar waterway.
The consignment was spotted by our
vigilant officers and they contain live
animals.
“There is no provision for permit to bring
them in. We are seizing them and handing
the containers over to the Nigerian
Quarantine Services for further necessary
action.
“I do not know what they want to do with
it, but I think it will be dangerous for us
because it contains snake, spiders, geckos
and other creatures. We have enough
snakes around Nigeria already and it will be
suspicious importing this. I do not know
what to think because I do not know what
they can be used for.”
Speaking shortly after receiving the
containers, the officer in charge of the
Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services in
Cross River State, Mr. Sunday Ukut, said the
animals would be properly scrutinised after
which they might be destroyed
Appreciating the efforts of officers that
intercepted the animals, he said the office
would conduct further investigations.
The arrested agent who brought in the
consignment from Cameroon, Mr. Julius
Novigana, said the consignment was given
to him by a friend to deliver to someone in
Lagos, claiming that he did not know what
was in the three containers. According to
him, his friend only asked him to deliver the
consignment to an unidentified person in
Lagos.
Captain of the vessel that brought the
consignment, Victor Agbor, also a
Cameroonian, said he did not spot the
containers when he was about leaving his
country, adding: “The name of my vessel is
MV Flesh and we bring in passengers and
general cargo from Cameroon to Nigeria. I
never saw this container on board before
leaving.”
