Customs Nabs 4 Smugglers, Seizes N7.4bn Contraband
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)’s Comptroller General Strike Force Team Zone A has arrested four smugglers in connection with N7.4 billion contraband within four weeks.
The Coordinator of the team, Deputy Comptroller Mohammed Yusuf, explained on Wednesday that his officers and men were able to seize over 8,000 bags of foreign parboiled rice of 50kilogrammes each, equivalent to 13 trucks, 1×40 feet container of Tramadol, Sildenafil citrate and 1,613 bottles of 100ml Codeine, 1,079 bales of secondhand clothing, 3,695 pieces of used tires, 966 slabs of donkey skin, 77,760 pairs of new ladies shoes, 5,250 pairs of used shoes, 197 logs of wood.
He said: “The total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N7.432 billion with four arrested suspects in connection with some of the seizures during the period under review.”
Yusuf stressed that through the service’s meticulous checks on import documents, his men were able to recover the sum of N3.14billion through the issuance of demand notices, saying this was done a sequel to discoveries of short payment of duties within six months.
According to DC Yusuf, the anti-smuggling operation was recharged against perpetrators of illegalities saying genuine business persons should go about their activities without worries.
He added: “Our operational capacity received a big boost with additional new Toyota Hilux vehicles from the Comptroller-General of Customs, which provided support for suppressing smuggling, preventing revenue loss, protecting environmental degradation, unlawful wildlife poaching, and in all, protecting the national economy.
“Importing what we can produce threatens our economy; unlawful felling of trees degrades the environment and promotes deforestation while the illegal killing of wildlife creatures and endangered species like pangolin and donkeys for their scales and skins respectively, could lead to these animals extinction. With these and other tasks under our purview, we shall resolute and unrelenting to arrest perpetrators, seize prohibited items from them or their accomplices, and promote lawful trade using the legal instrument of the extant Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) CAP 45LFN.”
This amount would have been lost, but for our vigilance and uncompromising disposition in the discharge of our duties.“
Within the same period in 2021, a total collection of N1.808 billion was made, showing an increase of N1.332 billion representing a 73 per cent revenue increase.
“I want to use this opportunity to reiterate that our efforts for the second half of the rear are already invigorated, and we shall ensure that smugglers and enemies of our economy have no hiding place within our area of responsibility. I advise all importers, agents, haulage operators, and the entire business community operating in the South West to keep themselves abreast with the import and export prohibition lists and guidelines, as ignorance of the law is not an excuse.
“This is just the beginning of heated anti-smuggling action which we have embarked upon in the entire South West area of the country. We are ready to run smugglers out of town with the full support and encouragement of our CGC, Col Hameed Ibrahim Ali, Rtd. This task is aimed at protecting our national economy and preventing dangerous importation as well as exportation that contradicts the law.”
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