Customs Seizes Contraband Worth N94m
The Nigeria Customs Service Federal Operation Unit Zone `B’, said it confiscated contraband with Duty Paid Value of N94 million within a month.
The Area Controller of the zone, Mohammed Mustapha, disclosed this while conducting newsmen round the seized items at the Command on Thursday in Kaduna.
Mustapha, who assumed duty at the command on Aug. 13, said the seizures were made along Kano-Zaria and Kaduna-Funtua axis.
He said that the unit had within the period seized two Toyota Hilux vans with duty paid value of N35 million, 860 bags of smuggled foreign rice valued N19 million and vegetable oil valued N378,000.
He said that the command also seized six J5 and two other buses valued N4.8 million, as well as one Dangote truck with duty paid value of N33.7 million.
The comptroller attributed the feat to new operational tactics, and intense surveillance and engagements by customs personnel involved in the anti-smuggling drive.
Mustapha advised smugglers to shun the act in whatever guise, saying the service was committed in its fight against smuggling.
Meanwhile, a similar seizure occurred last year in September when same Zone B of the Nigeria Customs Service, Kaduna, has intercepted smuggled items worth over N1.4 billion.
Its Controller then, Aminu Dahiru, said 1,357 items were seized between January and last month.
Some of the items are second hand vehicles and clothes, trucks load of rice, vegetable oil, tin tomatoes, illicit drugs, mosquito coil, tyres, furniture and drones.
The controller stressed that the command would continue to mount surveillance and adopt measures to make smuggling impossible in the area.
“We have declared war against smuggling and have deployed competent officers to man all identified illegal routes used by smugglers to bring in unwholesome goods into the country.
“We have taken concrete measures to stop illegal importation of banned goods to contribute our quota in the promotion of Made-in-Nigerian goods,” he said.
Dahiru said the zone had streamlined its mode of operations and equipped its men to operate optimally. He also sought the cooperation of stakeholders and traditional rulers in mobilising border communities to support the service in protecting the economy.
