Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol, bags of rice, vegetable oil, foreign poultry products, used cloths, tyres and woods are the most smuggled items in the Country’s southwest region, Daily Trust learnt.
Other items on the Nigeria Customs Service’s list of smuggled items are cannabis sativa, used cars and used shoes.
The items are the bulk of items seized by officials of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, Ikeja between January and May 2023.
Daily Trust gathered that between January and May 2023, about N3.815 billion worth of goods was smuggled into Nigeria through unapproved routes in the region.
Investigation revealed that most of the rice was smuggled into Nigeria in bags meant for locally produced rice. It was gathered that those behind the smuggling ring re-bag the foreign parboiled rice in locally made bags to make it look as if the contents are homegrown rice.
The Acting Controller in charge of FOU Zone A, Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu, said the seizures were made in the unit’s quest to enforce customs laws, and fight against the activities of saboteurs that attempt to undermine and weaken the nation’s economy.
According to him, some of the goods were intercepted for contravening various sections of the customs extant laws.
He said some of the wares were intercepted for either violating the guidelines on the importation/exportation of goods, concealment, undervaluation, wrong classification and smuggling, or contravening policy directives as in the case of foreign parboiled rice.
