Authority in charge of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, on Thursday said it intercepted N13.91 billion worth of smuggled goods from smugglers in six states in the South West region in 2022.
It said in terms of volume, rice topped the list of seizures made in the period under review.
It said the six states where the seizures were made include Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states.
This is even as it said the unit recovered shortfalls in duty payments and achieved a total collection of N878.35bn as revenue for the government in 2022.
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Besides seizures made, the unit also recovered revenue which would have been lost but for the intervention of officials of FOU ‘A’, who it said checked to be sure correct duties were paid into government coffers at the nation’s seaports in Lagos.
Briefing newsmen on the activities of the unit from January 1 to December 31 2022, the Acting Controller of FOU Zone, Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu, listed items seized to include 93,102 50kg bags of rice which amount to about 156 trailer load of rice, 108 automobiles comprising trucks, tankers, cars and motorcycles, and 656,414 litres (20 tankers) petrol.
“The unit made a total seizure of smuggled items worth a duty paid value of N13,908,575,436.5. Aside from protecting the national economy, some of the seizures achieved protection of citizens’ health because dangerous, expired and harmful products were prevented from being smuggled into the country.”
Customs said illicit drugs seized include 7,354kg and 4,975 tablets of cannabis sativa, 233 cartons and 82 packs; milligrammes of Tramadol.
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