21 August 2017
TWO persons suspected to have smuggled poisonous 145 snakes and other tropical rainforest reptiles from Cameroon to Nigeria have ‘disappeared’ from the custody of the Nigerian Agricultural and Quarantine Agency in Calabar, the office they were handed over to by the Nigerian Customs Service along with their consignment
Ibrahim Usman Jubril, the Minister of State for Environment who visited the office at the weekend to handover the reptiles to the University of Uyo for research was told by Sunday Uket, the director of the agency in Calabar that “just two persons were brought here and we have no clue where they have disappeared to”.
The Minster who said he was surprised and unhappy with the agency’s poor handling of the situation stated that the smugglers would have been a veritable source of information on where they got the reptiles, where they were taking them to and for what purpose but the agency has messed up the vigilance and good intentions of the customs service officers who intercepted the consignment.
Speaking while handing over the reptiles to the University of Uyo representatives, Jubril said the importers wanted to use Nigeria as a transit point to smuggle the items whose destination as seen on the boxes they were laden into as Rotterdam, Luxemburg but was intercepted by the vigilant customs service officers at the Calabar Port.
“The importers thought they could use Nigeria water channel or airports to smuggle these reptiles because they consider our airport and water channel as easy transit points for their nefarious activities but thanks to the Customs Service for their vigilance, they intercepted the items”.
He said the reptiles have the capacity to wipe out the country’s fauna if released to the wild without proper research because of their poisonous nature and that is the reason the ministry decided to release them to the University of Uyo to conduct appropriate research on them before deciding what to do.
“We must learn to have the interest of the environment at heart in all our activities. There are many things that these reptiles can do that are both destructive and beneficial to our habitat so we must always learn to ensure that we are vigilant at all times to ensure that nobody or organisation imports things that can negatively impact on our environment”.
Dr Edem Eniang of the Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Management who is a snake expert who took delivery of three boxes stated that the snakes were professionally packaged for export and that the venom in African mambas is the best and the most sought after in Europe for the treatment of stroke and high blood pressure and that the snakes would have been milked for their venom by those who smuggled them had they arrived their destination.
He said the snakes would be separated and those still alive would be trained in a snake farm and there after milked for their venom to be used for scientific research by the University.
Emmanuel Unah
Culled from www.facebook/EmmanuelUnah
