Oluyinka Onigbinde
The Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta-Ogun state has sentenced three citizens to two years imprisonment over assault on officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) while they were carrying out their statutory duties.
The Area Controller of the Federal Operations Unit Zone A, Deputy Comptroller Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu revealed this during a press briefing on Monday.
Ejibunu informed that four suspects were arrested in connection with some of the intercepted goods while three were sentenced to two years imprisonment each for assaulting customs officers on duty.
The three sentenced include Musa Oloyede, Fishing Godwin David and Adeniyi Alaye. Ejibunu also informed that the unit in the month of May intercepted 1,236 jerry cans of 25 litres petrol, at a total of 30,900 litres as well as other items with duty paid value of N1,025,905,110.00 in May 2023.
Other seizures made by the unit include 9,857 parcels (5,338 kg) of cannabis sativa, 2 X 20 of unprocessed wood, 4 units of used vehicles (Tokunbo) 40 X 5 jerry cans of vegetable oil and 54 bales of second hand clothing.
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. Others were seized for contravening policy directives as it is in the case of foreign parboiled rice.
“Detentions and seizures recorded within the period under review amounted to 79 seizures, with a total duty paid value of N1,025,905,110 are products of surveillance, intelligence gathering and regular patrols. These were intercepted at different times and locations within border corridors of the South-West Zone. Notable among the seizures are:
6,861 X 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice (equivalent to 12 trailer loads)
“On revenue, the sum of N38, 355, 362.88 was generated through conscious and thorough documentary checks, followed by the issuance of demand notices on consignments that were found to have paid lesser amounts than the appropriate customs duty.
“Consequent to the social effect of cannabis sativa on the youths, it becomes very worrisome that a total of 9,857 parcels were seized in a single swoop. Crime experts have found a direct relationship between the intake of this controlled plant and violent crimes.
“We are conscious of this challenge and will continually cut the supply chain of illicit drugs and other prohibited substances” he said.
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