The Joint Border Patrol in the North-Central Zone, Sector 3, has seized a 2019 Lexus jeep worth N21 million and other contraband items with an estimated Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N25 million.
The Coordinator of the team, Compt. Olugboyega Peters of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), disclosed this at a news conference on Wednesday in Ilorin.
Peters said that while the 2019 Lexus jeep was intercepted in Benue, operatives of the team acting on a tip off tracked and arrested a truck marked SRP 501XA loaded with 550 bags of 50kg rice on the Mokwa-Jebba road.
According to him, the DPV of the bags of parboiled rice is N14, 025, 000.
The coordinator of the team, comprising personnel of the Nigerian Army, Police, Nigeria Customs Service and Nigeria Immigration Service, said that a luxurious bus (Macapolo) was also intercepted on the Abuja-Lokoja highway conveying fairly used clothing.
He said that a total of 44 bales of secondhand clothing and 16 sacks of fairly used shoes, with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N3, 680, 000 were seized.
Peters, whose territory covers Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Ekiti and Niger states, said further that the reinvigorated operatives of the sector at different times and locations intercepted and seized 3,068 gallons of 25 litres of petrol.
The coordinator said that the smugglers were caught in an attempt to smuggle the product out of the country.
He said that petrol smuggling through the sector had decrease due to its operatives blocking all avenues boosting the illicit trade.
“I urge the smugglers to embrace other means of livelihood as we shall not relent in our efforts to fight smuggling on daily basis.
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“We will improve on our intelligence gathering method and deploy our efforts in accordance with all extant laws.
“Especially those with evil activities and those using official or company vehicles to smuggle goods into the country to steer clear of sector 3 axis as there shall be no safe haven for them,” the Comptroller warned.
He further said that in line with the extant laws, most of the inflammable products had been auctioned to the public and the amount generated as fees remitted to government coffers.
………Arrests 3 Illegal Migrants………………
The Joint Border Operations Drill Sector 3 also arrested three illegal migrants, between 16 years old and 18 years old, around Babanna axis of the Sector.
Controller Olugboyega Peters said the illegal migrants were coming from Benin, Edo, enroute Burkina Faso.
The Controller said that after thorough investigation it was discovered that the teenagers were being trafficked by a syndicate to Burkina Faso.
“The teenagers were handed over to Nigeria Immigration Service as one of the agencies in the sector, saddled with such responsibilities,” he said.
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