As the move to curb smuggling and concealing of dangerous items through the Nigeria seaport intensified, the Nigeria Customs Service, Apapa area Command said it has arrested 21 suspects in the first six month of the year 2022.
The suspects arrested were in connection with smuggling of various items to the tune of N8.3 billion in Duty Paid Value(DPV).
Addressing news men in Lagos on Friday on the activities of the command in the past six month, the Customs Area Controller ( CAC) in charge of the command, Comptroller Malanta Ibrahim Yusuf said the command anti-smuggling operation is guided by the Federal Government import and export prohibition list, as well as other government fiscal policies as directed.
Comptroller Malanta disclosed that for the period.under review , the command have managed to curb the smuggling of dangerous items which has resulted in the seizure of 83 containers with DPV of N8.3billion.
Highlighting the seized items to include 32 containers of processed/ unprocessed wood, 5 containers of unregistered pharmaceuticals, 18 containers of used clothings/ shoes, 12 containers of foreign parboiled rice, 7 containers of vegetable oil, 3 containers of tomato paste and 1×20ft container laden with 150 cartoons of tramadol, Malanta disclosed that a suspect has also been arrested in the recent seizure of 1×20 ft container of tramadol and he is currently undergoing interrogation / investigation.
Speaking on export trade, the command boss said ” In line with the Federal Government efforts to diversify the economy through non-oil export, the command recorded a boom in the exportation of non-oil commodities with about 2.5 million tonnes, which is above the 540 metric tonnes in the year 2021.
“The Free On Board (FOB) value for the exported items also rose from $1.6million in the year 2021 to $138million in 2022. Items exported includes steel bars, agricultural and mineral products among others” Malanta said.
He added that the federal government policy and export incentive schemes have played viral roles in boosting export trade in Nigeria.
On revenue generation for the period under review, the CAC hinted that the command has consistently strived in it’s core mandates of revenue generation, prevention and suppression of smuggling , trade facilitation, implementation of government fiscal policies as well as collaboration band cooperation with other government agencies to ensure ease of doing business in the port.
He added that within the period under review, the command has collected revenue to the tune of N522.4billion, which shows a significant increase of N156billlion as against N366.5billion naira collected in the corresponding months of the year 2021.
The amount recorded, according to the Area Controller represent 42.5% increase in revenue collection. ” This feat was made possible because of our officers resilience in ensuring identified revenue leakages have been mitigated, while sustaining the level of compliance by the importers/ stakeholders in the clearing value chain” he said.
He disclosed that in other to further strengthen existing relationship between relevant government agencies in the port, the command had recently handed over 2×20ft containers with registration number SUDU 7774749 and UETU2798479 laden with 150 cartoons of illicit hard drugs to the NDLEA.
Comptroller Malanta however extend his profound appreciation to the CGC and his management team for their unrelenting support, government agencies in the port for collaboration band synergy , officers and men of the command for their tireless commitment and also the compliant stakeholders.
