The Federal Operation Unit, Zone ‘A’ of Nigeria Customs Service in it’s fight against economic saboteurs has intercept various contrabands with duty paid value of over N2.5b within 1st through 19th of March.
The seized contrabands which was made possible as a result of the tactical modalities of un-relent effort of officers and men of the unit includes 16 exotic vehicles which are mostly 2017 model, 7,201 bags of foreign parboiled rice which amounts to 12 trailer loads and 1,172 cartoons of frozen poultry products.
Others include 1,352 jerrycan of vegetable oil, 72 bales of used clothing, 464 piece of used tyres, 407 sacks of pangolin scales and 629 pieces of textile Ankara material.
The unit controller, Comptroller Uba Mohammed while taking news men round the seized items said the remarkable among the seized items were the bags of rice and others removed from a warehouse.
” Remarkably among the seizures Was the interception of 8 trucks laden with 3,351 bags of rice and 669 jerrycan of vegetable oil along Iseyin, Oyo/Osun axis and also the evacuation of 1,253 bags of 50kg rice from a warehouse in Ogbomosho based on credible intelligence despite the resistance encountered.
“You will recall that the ban on importation of foreign rice through the land was to encourage efficiency in local production, therefore the need to support the Federal government policy on rice, encourage local rice farmers, the millers and patronize our own nutritional rice cannot be over emphasized” he quipped.
Comptroller Uba who explain further that the 16 exotic vehicles detained which are 2 Lexus jeep (RS350 2016,2017 model), 1 Rolls Royce, 1 Lincoln Limousine (2014), 3 Toyota Camry (2009,2013 and2017 model) 1Toyota Raven 4, 1Toyota Avalon (2016), 1 Toyota Tundra, 1 Dodge among others have a duty paid value of N340,770,509.055 only.
Meanwhile 6 among the vehicles were evacuated based on intelligence along Lekki Epe expressway while the remaining 10 were intercepted during information patrol at various locations and all are under detention pending the grace period allowed for owners to bring relevant customs document.
The unit boss also disclosed that the 407 sacks of pangolin scales weighing 10,263kg which was evacuated from an appointment at 64 opebi road, off Toyin street Ikeja axis in Lagos within the weeks under review with a duty paid value of N2,094,243,456.69 along side the 5 suspects arrested, will be handed over to Nigeria Environment Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency ( NESREA) for further investigation in collaboration towards protecting natural habitat and endangered species.
He however appreciate the Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) led management team of Nigeria Customs Service for the commendation letter given to the unit and provision of necessary logistics that brought about the feat.
