The Controller of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr Dan Ugo has confirmed that 88 suspects were arrested during a raid at the Tin-Can Island Port, Lagos last week.
Ugo made the disclosure on Friday in Lagos and explained that 14 of those arrested, who tendered genuine documents of identification, were later released.
He also confirmed that 25 of the suspects had been charged to court, while the remaining suspects were being screened to ascertain those with legitimate documents.
The Controller of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr Dan Ugo has confirmed that 88 suspects were arrested during a raid at the Tin-Can Island Port, Lagos last week.
Ugo made the disclosure on Friday in Lagos and explained that 14 of those arrested, who tendered genuine documents of identification, were later released.
He also confirmed that 25 of the suspects had been charged to court, while the remaining suspects were being screened to ascertain those with legitimate documents.
Ugo said that the raid followed an intelligence report at the disposal of the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Mr Abdullahi Dikko, that some misguided elements were disturbing operations at the port.
“I was ordered by the CGC to ensure total annihilation of these miscreants. To this effect, on Feb 6, 2013, a combined team of Customs and Police visited Tin-Can to raid the port.
“This was to remove the undesirable elements, whose activities have continually posed serious threat to security and to customs operations, “ he stresed.
The controller said that the touts pretended as genuine port users, adding that they were actually involved in many unwholesome acts, which most times affected maximum revenue collection by the service.
He said that most of the touts were involved in falsification of clearance documents and other heinous crimes.
Ugo said that the Comptroller General had assured all genuine importers and agents of his continuous support in terms of trade facilitation.
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