The Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, of the Nigeria Customs Service, on Tuesday, said it intercepted over N1.241 billion worth of contraband from smugglers operating in the South- West in the last one month.
Acting Controller in charge of the zone, Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu, made the disclosure while conducting media men round government warehouses to showcase some of the seizures.
He explained that the unit recovered over N115.5m from those he referred to as criminally-minded importers in the habit of shotchanging government of it’s hard earned revenue.
He said, “Rice has been a recurring commodity in our list of seizures across various borders in the southwest zone. We were able to seize a total of 7,381 units of 50kg foreign parboiled rice from smugglers. This amounts to almost 13 trailer loads.
FG tasks parents, guardians on curbing influx of foreign culture
Integrate police in your humanitarian services, FG urges companies
“A total of 17 vehicles were also seized from smugglers who wanted to circumvent the law by evading duty payment. For the avoidance of doubt, let me state again that the ban on vehicle importation through land borders subsists.
“Our officers also intercepted 593 jerry cans (14,825 litres) of petrol. Because of the volatility of this product, we have safely disposed of it in line with laid down due process.”
