The Federal Operations Unit (Zone B) of the Nigeria Customs service in Kaduna has, within two months, seized contraband goods with duty paid value of about N197 million.
Comptroller Abu Bawa Gusau, the Customs Area Controller of the Unit, said in Kaduna last week that the seizures, consisting of assorted prohibited goods, were made possible because of the service’s intelligence network.
The seized items include: 85 second hand vehicles illegally imported, assorted textile materials, vegetable oil, sugar, spaghetti, rice, and furniture.
The CAC expressed delight at the seizure because the notorious smugglers had thought that the recent dismantling of Customs Checks Points on the High-ways by the Comptroller-General of Customs was an open invitation to illicit trade.
He said culprits are now counting their losses as Customs maximizes the potentials of intelligence operatives to execute target strikes on smugglers recording spectacular seizures.
Comptroller Gusau said that the removal of check points was made
to facilitate legitimate trade, hence the Service has continued to
monitor movements of goods to ensure that the ones being imported or
exported are only those allowed by the laws of the land.
He warned the die- hard smugglers who may still want to test the resolve of customs personnel to reconsider their steps as Customs, according to him, is motivated to give its best, adding that “we have the teeth to bite and cripple any act of smuggling”.
Discussion about this post