The Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A', has impounded contraband with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N40.1 million.
The Acting Controller of the Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’, Deputy Comptroller Usman Yahaya disclosed this in a statement by unit’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Jerry Attah, in Lagos on Tuesday
Yahaya said the discovery followed surveillance and routine patrol by NSC’s operatives between Feb. 5 and Feb. 17.
He said the contraband were conveyed along unapproved routes within Ogun State.
He listed the seized items as 1,393 bags of smuggled foreign parboiled rice, 187 jerrycans/66 drums of foreign vegetable oil, 625 Cartons of poultry products and 50 jerrycans of foreign vegetable oil.
“Our unrelenting effort has continued to yield more results in the anti-smuggling drive.
“Barely two weeks after the Comptroller-General of Customs’ working visit to Lagos where he showcased various seizures made by FOU A worth over N10 billion Naira, the Unit has again intercepted more products.
“The rice, vegetable oil and poultry products were conveyed in 12 different motor vehicles and were concealed in gas cylinders and had a cumulative duty paid value of N40,144,250,” he said.
Yahaya said that this desperate act by the smugglers concealing edible items in a gas cylinder further justified the hard chase by operatives of customs.
He listed that DPV breakdown of the seized items as: rice -N27,860,000, vegetable oil – N6,284,250 and frozen poultry N6,000,000.
Yahaya warned that unless the economic saboteurs repented from their unscrupulous activities, they would continue to count their losses.
He also advised legitimate traders to be compliant in their declarations as the unit was ever ready to facilitate their trade in line with world best practices.
Yahaya thanked the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd), and the entire Management Team of NCS for providing necessary logistics and motivation that led to this feat.
He also called on Nigerians to support the service’s fight against smuggling activities by providing useful information that could assist the unit achieve more monumental seizures.
