SAN FRANCISCO, March 13, (THEWILL) – The Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted a 40ft container of frozen Tilapia fish, with No: DFOU6122880, which was imported from Turkey and valued at N22.1 million.
This was disclosed on Monday by the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Muhammad Jibrin, when he led newsmen to APM Terminals, Apapa, where the container was intercepted revealing that the importer made a false declaration that the container was laden with apples but was uncovered during scanning.
“Upon scanning, officers discovered the container was containing 2,700 cartons of frozen tilapia fish from Turkey,” he said.
“The aforementioned fish species is under restriction.
“More so, importers of allowable species of fish are expected to obtain licence, and permit before such importation into the country.
“We have scanners that are working but most of the scanners are inadequate for operations.”
He revealed that the command had opened communication with Agriculture and Plant Quarantine Service and the National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), in the spirit of collaboration.
He declared that the command had zero tolerance for smuggling and false declaration in line with the policy of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Retired Col. Hameed Ali, boasting that the command would continue to uncover and stop any attempt at breaching the law as regards imports and exports transactions through the command.
