The Nigeria Customs Service says it has seized contraband goods worth over N70.1 million between September 2020 to March 2021 Zone D.
The Zone D comprises Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe, Plateau and Nasarawa.
Comptroller of the zone, Adesanmi Omiye, told newsmen at a briefing, on Thursday, in Bauchi, that the seizures included 573 50kg bags of foreign rice and 25- 25-litre jerricans of foreign vegetable oil valued N240,000.
Others were 45 bales of used clothing value at N8.83 million, 50 bags of foreign mosquito coils valued at N450,000 and 175 cartons of foreign soap valued at N2 million, he said
In addition, Omiye said there were also 674 rounds of 70mm cartridges, 12 bags of marijuana valued at N30 million, 12 vehicles used for the conveyance of contrabands valued at N8 million, 25 litre Jerry cans of petrol numbering 105 and valued at N294,000.
“The total value of the seizure by the FOU Zone D Bauchi is worth N70,199,200. Two suspects were apprehended in respect of Marijuana,” he said.
He noted that all operations were carried out in line with Section 147 of the Customs Act which empowered the service to search premises and Section 158 which empowered it to patrol freely.
The comptroller said the command had recorded significant successes and greatly improved on its anti-smuggling profile, with the magnitude of seizures made so far in areas under its jurisdiction.
Omiye, who stated that the service would not relent in its efforts to ensure that contrabands did not get into the country, called on stakeholders to always provide the service with information on any smuggling activities within their area.(NAN)