The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’ has announced the interception of 15 bulletproof jackets, 15 pieces of jack knives, and 20 pieces of pistol pouches concealed inside a Toyota Sienna Bus at Ijebu Ode in Ogun state.
Briefing newsmen on Wednesday, the Acting Comptroller of the unit, Comptroller Kehinde Hussein Ejibunu, informed that the driver of the vehicle was arrested in conjunction with the seized controlled wares.
He said the seizures recorded within the period under review are a reflection of officers’ commitment to duty and a no-compromise posture in the discharge of their statutory responsibilities aimed at protecting the national economy and preventing the importation of prohibited and harmful goods.
He explained that the importation of all forms of bulletproof materials such as vests, ballistic materials, and vehicles, as well as parts and accessories for all military armaments and hardware such as guns, arms, and ammunition of all kinds—lethal and non-lethal—requires an end-user certificate.
He informed that the end-user certificate is applied to and issued by the office of the national security adviser, which loses its validity after one year from the issuance date.
He explained that anyone importing a controlled item must do so within the validity period of the end-user certificate.
Speaking further, Ejibunu informed that 50 seizures were made within the period under review for non-compliance with the extant Customs laws. He listed the items to include 5,642 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice (equivalent to 9 trailer loads), 18,925 litres of premium motor spirit, 20 pieces of pistol pouches, 15 pieces of bulletproof jackets, 15 pieces of jack knives, 49 cartons of children’s school shoes, 181 (87 kg) parcels of Indian Hemp, 357 kegs of vegetable oil, including 2 used (Tokumbo) vehicles.
He said the total duty paid value (DPV) of the seized goods stood at N462.7 million while also stating that the sum of N66.4 million was recovered as revenue into the federation account through the issuance of demand notices (DN) on Customs duties that were discovered to be underpaid.
He further stated that 13 suspects were arrested in connection with some of the seizures and are at different stages of investigations and prosecution.
He said the unit will also hand over three (3) suspects and cannabis sativa with a net weight of 7,728 kilograms to officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Lagos State Command, for further investigation and prosecution. Ejibunu appreciated the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, stating that his maiden visit to the Unit was a morale booster for the success story recorded in the unit.
