BEVERLY HILLS, May 01, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘B’, has made 122 confiscations of items with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N165,198,544.32 within three weeks.
The Comptroller of FOU, Comptroller Al-Bashir Hamisu, who made the disclosure during a briefing in Kaduna, said, the goods were seized between April 9th-April 29th, 2021 at various locations within the zone franchise, which are Kaduna, Zamfara, Kano, Kogi, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Kwara and Niger states.
Items seized include, 27 vehicles, which are used as means of conveyance for the prohibited goods, 1,711 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 591 foreign spaghetti and macaroni, 360 cartons of pharmaceutical products without NAFDAC number, 191 kegs of foreign vegetable oil in 25 litres, 76 bales and sacks of second hand clothings and 70 bags of foreign fertilizer in 50kg.
Others are, 20 kegs of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in 25 litres, 19 cartons of couscous, six packs of foreign Ginny milky creamer and two units of used vehicles.
The Comptroller said, the Nigeria Customs of today was committed in her resolve to bringing smugglers to their knees until they desisted from their activities, which amounted to economic sabotage.
He disclosed that villagers at border towns now served as informants to smugglers by giving them information about customs patrol team movements, adding that the smuggled foreign parboiled bags of rice were concealed in private vehicles aimed at deceiving the officers at check points.
“Insecurity is also affecting our performance but we have equally devised strategies to ensure that we carry out our mandate,” he stressed.
