Worried by the spate of banditry and terrorism bedeviling country, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has said it is on the lookout for smugglers of arms and ammunition into the country through the land borders.
The Coordinator of Customs Controller General’s Team ‘B’ Strike Force, Deputy Controller Faith Ojeifo, stated this in Kaduna on Saturday, while parading contraband seized by the team in March 2022.
The Coordinator of the Strike Force Team which covers Zone B and D of the service, which is the entire North-West and North-East, said though arms anf ammunition were not among contraband seized within the period, men of the team were on the alert for such criminal elements.
He, however, said the Strike Force made seizure of several contraband goods including, “994 bags of foreign par boiled rice 50kg each, 960 bags of Urea Fertilizer 50kg each, 43 cartoons of imported spaghetti, 1,292 cartons of soap, 959 cartons of lady shoes, 4,275 litres of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS), one used Mercedes Benz truck, a Sino truck, one used Toyota Starlet car, 15 cartons of Shisha Pot, 11 cartons of Nacim cigarette and 196 bales of used clothing, with duty paid value of N143.6 million.”
Ojeifo said, “Following my briefing on arrival as the Coordinator Strike Force Zone B and in line with the clear directives given by the NCS management, my team and I made firm commitment to tackle the menace of smuggling and other cross border crimes with vigor in spite of the rugged and vast terrain assign to us.
“Strategic sessions with my key officers revealed detailed information of the modus operandis of smugglers in this region. Aimed with this information we were able to craft a commensurate response. Our primary objectives remains to strike at the heart of this economic criminals and to seriously deplete their ability to carry out this nefarious activities.
“Today I am happy to report that our effort have begun to yield the desired results. From Maiduguri, Yola and Kano we have been able to leave our mark as evidenced in the over 40 seizures of various items prohibited under schedule 3 of the Common External Tariff (CET).
“In total seizures were made from Kebbi, Borno, Kano, Katsina, Yola, Kaduna and Yobe.”
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