The Oyo/Osun Area Command of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has destroyed smuggled frozen turkey worth N11.5Million.
The contraband was seized from smugglers on the Ibadan-Ife expressway.
Addressing journalists at the Awotan dump site, venue of the destruction exercise, Asst. Comptroller (Enforcement), Mr Johnson Akinwande, said the buses conveying the contraband were intercepted based on intelligence report.
The Oyo/Osun Area Command of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has destroyed smuggled frozen turkey worth N11.5Million.
The contraband was seized from smugglers on the Ibadan-Ife expressway.
Addressing journalists at the Awotan dump site, venue of the destruction exercise, Asst. Comptroller (Enforcement), Mr Johnson Akinwande, said the buses conveying the contraband were intercepted based on intelligence report.
Akinwande said the contraband was concealed in 2,500 cartons of assorted household goods, including soaps, milk, synthetic human hair, insecticides and beverages.
He said the smugglers, who were intercepted along the Ibadan-Ife expressway on May 8, fled after abandoning their vehicles on sighting the customs officers.
Akinwade said that said the best way to make local poultry industry viable was to make importation of poultry products illegal and offenders strictly sanctioned.
"We have to discourage the smugglers because we have to encourage our own local farmers and empower them as well.
"And to that extent, if we allow imported poultry items into the country, people will just go to the market and buy one or two kilogrammes and prepare their soup.
"But if they do not find the imported one, they will be forced to patronise local farmers.
"Imagine if this N11.5 million is injected into our local poultry industry, it will go a long way in developing it through enhanced meat production.
"Such encouragement also means that jobs would be created for our youths who want to go into poultry farming.
"So, our action is a way of empowering our own people which is better for the economy" Akinwande explained.
He explained that the two Toyota 18-seater buses were conveying the frozen turkey meat concealed in 2,500 cartons and were intercepted along Ibadan-Ile-Ife Expressway on May 8, even as he disclosed that the smugglers fled into the bush on sighting the Customs officers, leaving their vehicles behind.
Both vehicles, suspected to be heading to Ekiti State have the state registration numbers ADK 99 XA and LAW 11 XA respectively.
He said the new Area Controller, Deputy Comptroller Richard Oteri, was bent on making Oyo and Ogun states unbearable for smugglers.
He said the consignment was destroyed because it was harmful to human health.
Akinwande said the chemical used in preserving frozen turkey was the same used by embalmers to preserve corpses, adding that it was capable of causing cancer and other diseases if consumed by human beings.
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