Customs seizes N79m contraband in Katsina

The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Katsina Area Command, has seized goods worth over N79 million smuggled into the country.

The Area Controller of Customs in the state, Comptroller Adewale Musa Aremu, while parading the seized items Tuesday, said they were intercepted by the gallant officers of the command from February 8 to March 8 this year.

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The goods impounded include 470 bags of 50kg foreign rice, some of which were concealed in compartments of the fuel tanker.

Other goods confiscated included 367 bales of second hand clothing materials worth over N30m; a used Honda Accord car worth over N8m as well as 166 jerry cans of vegetable oil valued at N1.8m.

Also confiscated were 321 cartons of spaghetti; 97 cartons of couscous; 110 cartons of macaroni; 65 cartons of milky creamer; 14 cartons of clinical plaster and 187 bags of sugar.

He said the fuel tanker, with registration number KWL 427 TH, has a duty paid value of N13.5m, while the trailer vehicle also used for conveying second hand clothing materials was valued at N12.1m.

Aremu said the activities of smugglers were inimical to the economy of the country, and warned that operatives of the command would not relent in identifying and uncovering new tricks in smuggling.