Cameroonian Customs seizes 18.4 tons of cocoa beans bound for Nigeria

On January 25, Cameroonian customs intercepted a shipment of 18.4 tons of cocoa beans intended for smuggling to Nigeria through the Idenau port in the Southwest region. To avoid customs, the smugglers falsely declared the bags as containing peanuts during the loading onto artisanal boats. Indeed, faced with the intensification of fraudulent exports of Cameroonian cocoa to Nigeria during the 2022-2023 season, the Minister of Trade, following a crisis meeting with sector players on June 13, 2023 in Yaounde, had to ban exports of beans to this neighboring country. The surveillance system involving administrative authorities, security forces and customs officers…