In what could be described as a heartwarming move, the Federal Operations Unit, Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) intercepted three trucks carrying 880 bags of white beans, 584 bags of onions, and 18 bags of dry pepper and instead of taking them to government warehouse were most of the items will rot away while Nigerians are hungry, redirected the items to the market for sale by their owners.
The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the Unit, Comptroller Kehinde Hussein Ejibunu who disclosed this at a press briefing in Lagos on Friday, said the trucks carrying the food items were intercepted along Ajilete/Idiroko road in Ogun state while trying to move the good items en to the Republic of Benin and instead of confiscating the items, the trucks were redirected to a market where the goods were sold to Nigerian consumers by the owners.
According to Ejibunu, the move is in line with the Federal Government policy at ensuring food security as well as addressing the high cost of living which the Comptroller General of Customs and the management are vigorously pursuing.
Ejibunu said the unit also intercepted foreign parboiled rice concealed in petroleum jerrycans along Ajilete in Ogun state.
Expressing concern over the new tactics by smugglers, Ejibunu said the practice, is not only illegal but also poses health risks to the masses who will consume such goods.
Ejubunu noted that despite the various antics deployed by these smugglers and economic saboteurs to beat Customs checks, the unit, in its efforts and commitment to preventing smuggling and protecting the national economy,
in February 2024, made a total of 93 seizures with a duty paid value of N751,127,025 and also arrested nine suspects in connection with the seizures.
These seizures according to the customs boss were due to violation of various sections of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, and the federal government import and export prohibition guidelines.
In his words, “A reference case is the smuggling of foreign parboiled rice in petroleum jerrycans along Ajilete in Ogun state which is not only illegal but also exposes the potential consumers to the risk of eating contaminated grains that have ingested poisonous properties possibly from premium motor spirit (PMS), diesel, or other petroleum products".
The Comptroller also disclosed that the unit within the same period under review prevented the smuggling of eleven used exotic vehicles worth over N200 million into the country, the unit’s firm resistance against duty evasion resulted in the recovery of N78,164,255.20 revenue through the issuance of demand notices (DN) on underpayments of customs duties
Ejibunu went further to say that rice remained a top item in the February 2024 seizures, with a total of 3,779 X 50kg bags of suspected foreign rice seized, equivalent to over 7 trailer loads worth over N365 million from various parts of the South West.
Other items seized included a locally made gun and six pieces of empty cartridges at Abeokuta road, 731 parcels of Indian hemp weighing 482kg, 1 X 40ft container found to contain 286 cartons of new rubber slippers, 7 units of used motorcycles, 28,000 litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) and 2,420 pieces of used tyres.
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