The Murtala Muhammed Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service said it intercepted male donkey genitals and dried shark fins worth N1.23bn at the Lagos Airport en route to China and Hong Kong, respectively.
According to a statement on Thursday, the Customs Area Controller in charge of the command, Muhammed Yusuf, disclosed this while showing some of the seized contraband to journalists at the command.
Yusuf explained that the male donkey genitals were harvested from Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, by a Chinese.
He said, “Donkeys are under endangered species and they came from Abakaliki, and we begin to wonder why it came from that side. “We have a lot of donkeys in Abakaliki, and now that they are endangered species, if these things continue to go out like this, you can imagine the roles they play in the ecosystem. As it is, the Chinese man has been arrested and the investigation is ongoing.”
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On the shark fins, Yusuf said investigations were ongoing to know the source of the contrabands stressing that there are not enough sharks in Nigerian waters.
He added, “The culprits have been apprehended, and investigation is ongoing to know where these things come from. I know that in Nigeria waters we don’t have enough sharks that are up to this.
“This is supposed to be exported out of the country and nabbed at the point of documentation. 1,700 pieces of sharks are endangered, and they are going to Hong Kong this is the first time we are seizing this in the command.”
He also said that from January to July 2023, the command generated N47.24bn, which shows that 83.24 per cent of the command’s target had been met.
