About 800 senior officers of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit ( FOU) Zone ‘A’ , Ikeja, have been deployed to major towns and villages around the border areas of the country to increase the anti-smuggling war’s tempo. This is to curb smuggling as we approach the Yuletide, it was learnt.
The Unit, findings revealed, covers Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states.
FOU anti-smuggling strike team include the Lagos Roving, the CG Compliance and Patrol; all combing the nooks and crannies of the six states for smugglers.
The deployment by the Unit Controller, Mohammed Uba Garba, it was gathered, emanated from the report that smugglers would be on rampage from the end of this month till the end of December.
Mohammed, according to stakeholders, has mandated his officers to wage a relentless war against economic saboteurs in his area of jurisdiction.
It was also gathered that the unit has increased the patrols on land and villages very close to the rivers and the sea, fortified the approved check points and other swampy areas around Ere, Ado, Alapoti, Seme, Ojo, Sibiri, Igbesa, Agbara, Badagry, Owode-Apa and other areas where operational boats and vehicles could not access with highly committed young senior officers.
When The Nation visited the Unit last Friday, Mohammed was seen directing some of his senior officers, who were on top of their operational vehicles and armed to teeth. They are to comb all the river banks linking the Atlantic Ocean from Lagos to Ogun, Oyo and Ondo states so that no smuggler will be able to use barges to smuggle rice and other prohibited items into the country.
While some of the officers were sent to combat smugglers, who may want to use the rivers and the sea for their illicit business, another set, it was learnt, has been mandated by Mohammed to comb the bush paths in their area of jurisdiction to find the new hide-out of smugglers, who specialised in bringing all prohibited items like second hand clothing, bags, shoes, frozen chicken, bags of rice, used tyres and other items through the land and the swampy area into the country.
The over 800 dedicated officers, it was gathered, were instructed to also beam their searchlight on the villages around the border areas where the smugglers may want to use to bring in bags of rice and other prohibited items into the country.
When The Nation visited Owode-Apa, Ado and Igbesa areas of Ogun State on Saturday, most of the residents of the area were seen complaining about the Customs officers activities as most of their vehicles were stopped on the road and searched.
Some traders at Lusada, a town in the area, said gone were the days when small quantities of rice such as 10kg and 25kg per trip are stored in commercial quantity by the so-called travelers for onward shipment into markets.
One of the traders, Mrs Badejo Adegoroye, said: “This is not a good time for scrupulous importers operating on Lagos-Ogun border stations and its environs.”
She confirmed that things have turned bad for importers, who engage in illicit trade with the new sophisticated methods introduced by the FOU officers.
Other traders said it was difficult to deny the government the needed revenue or flood the country with smuggled rice and other illicit products.
Findings revealed that officers of the Unit have put a check on the quantity of rice any traveler can bring into the country no matter how small it is.
The move, investigation revealed, has made Mohammed and his officers unpopular among many trans-border traders and villagers around the area.
The anti-smuggling drive of the Unit now stretchs to various swampy areas where vehicles could not access in addition to the visible patrols of the villages and proper manning of all approved checkpoints.
The command has also increased foot patrol along the bush paths and raised its level of intelligence gathering for preventing, interdicting and uncompromising arrests of smugglers.
Contacted, FOU’s Public Relations Officer, Jerry Attah, said the controller has set in motion a system that makes the fight against smuggling more serious.
Although the image maker was not specific on the number of officers deployed, he was emphatic that all the officers in the Unit are working together and operating as one.
“You know we are almost at the end of October, this is the time most of the people, who engage in nefarious activities use to smuggle approved and un-approved imported items into the country through the land and sea. They do this to deny the Federal Government the needed revenue to boost the economy.
“Our Controller is a career officer and once the O/C Export at Zone A in TCIP, O/C Gate at Onne Area II, Port Harcourt, DC Valuation at Lilypond, DC Import KLT, TCIP and Ogun Area Command.
“Under his watch, the anti-smuggling crusade has changed positively. He has provided inspirational leadership by living among his rank and file in the barracks unlike the previous Comptrollers, who preferred the comfort of their rented five-star apartments in the cities. This has endered him to his subordinates, who see him as one of them and trusted to lead most of the operations they have carried out.
Officers of the command said no file stays on his table till the following day and responds promptly to every issue that comes up at the command.
the area to desist as he said the Area Controller has directed that there must not be any hidden place for them to operate.
Source- The Nation
