The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has arrested 33 illegal migrants, made seizures of 15 vehicles and other various smuggled goods in the ongoing joint border operation tagged, “Exercise Swift Response.”
The spokesman of the Service, Deputy Comptroller Joseph Attah, in a statement on Tuesday said the exercise was yielding positive results.
Customs said as at Monday, 33 illegal migrants have been arrested while the seizures made include: 3,560-50kg bags of parboiled foreign rice, 59 bags of NPK fertilizer, 15 vehicles, 12 drums ladened with petrol, three engine boats and 65 drums of groundnut oil.
The rest of the seizures are four trucks, 75 gallons of petrol, 29 motorcycles, 68 gallons of vegetable oil, and 70 jerrycans of petrol.
The Service said the exercise, which commenced barely a week ago has had support from border community dwellers and other well-meaning Nigerians.
The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), which is coordinating the exercise is already recording large numbers of seizures and arrests from the 4 sectors comprising the North-West, North-Central, South-West, and South-South geopolitical zones.
The exercise led by the NCS and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) with support from the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Security and Intelligence agencies have continued to patrol and secure our border areas.
