Customs seizes N62.6m goods

The Federal Operations Unit (zone B) of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) ‎has seized smuggled goods with Duty Paid Value worth of N62.693 million, just as the service said it has resumed its e-auctions suspended in 2018.

The Controller, Muhammad Sarki-Kebbi who made the disclosure at the zone B Headquarters along Kaduna-Zaria highway said the seizures were made in one week.

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“The duty paid value of the items is 62,693,000 million naira and we made these achievements in one week. My message to these smugglers is that we are not going to rest and we will make sure that we get them and prosecute them,” he said.

The Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller of Customs (DC), Joseph Attah, in a statement said the online auction of seized consignments, tagged, e-auction has resumed, following the re-engineering of the process.

NCS had in 2018 suspended its electronic auction of seized vehicles. Following the suspension, seized vehicles worth billions of naira started rotting away at various Customs warehouses across the country.

It introduced the electronic auction platform in July 2017, which was a move from the manual auction process that was tainted with malpractices.

Attah said the electronic portal is now open (live) for interested persons with valid Tax Identification Number (TIN) to log in and bid for items of their choice.

“While you choose and make your bid alongside other interested Nigerians, we wish you good luck.”