…Intercepts 9 Trailer Load Of Foreign Rice
The Seme Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it has seized various contrabands items along its border line within the last three weeks.
Among the seized items are 5,204 bags of 50kg foreign per boiled rice, which is equivalent to nine trailer load with dpv of N70,066,656, smuggled into the country through its been line.
Speaking to newsmen on Monday, the Customs Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Mohammed Uba Garba disclosed that 146 parcel of Cannabis Sativa concealed in one red Toyota Highlander jeep and another 32 parcels in other operations with street value of N1,681,231.
Other seizures made include 10 by 25litres Jerry Cans of vegetable oil with DPV of N100,980; 13 by 50kg bags of sugar with DPV of N301,965; 1,078 cartons of poultry products with DPV of N15,727,701; 55 cartons of spaghetti with DPV of N212,924; 97 Cartons of soap worth N619,820; 59 Cartons of insecticides worth N761,365; 65 by 6 Yards of Textiles worth N419,396; 17 sacks of used clothes/shoes worth N435,897.
4 cartons of tin tomatoes worth N29,179; 36 bales of used cloths worth N1,942,920; 60 pieces of used tyres worth N774,270; 669 packs of PVC carpet/foot mats worth N11,844,768; 2 cartons of cream worth N18,066; and one white Scannia truck carrying rotten hide and skin popularly known as ‘Ponmo was intercepted.
Also, nine trucks were placed on detention due to short payment. A total of five vehicles have also been seized with duty paid value (DPV) of N7,549,132. Putting the Total DPV for seizures within the three weeks under review at N112,486,270.
He added that one suspect was arrested in connection with one of the seizures. He further sounded a note of warning to those engaged in illegal activities and other cross-border vices to avoid Seme border or risk arrest and possible prosecution.
Uba who disclosed that the intensified operation of the enforcement unit has drastically bring smuggling activities to the barest minimum advised all Unit heads to ensure adequate supervision of their subordinates in order to facilitate legitimate trade across the frontier while keeping a healthy relationship with the critical stakeholders.
According to him, it will ensure the achievement of the core mandate as directed. The right approach in executing the mandate of the service will yield a positive result as revenue generation, suppression of smuggling and legitimate trade facilitation will be adequately enhanced at the Lagos–Abidjan corridor without compromising National Security.
The command boss also gave his words to the members of both local and business communities that the command will increase dialogue, enlightenment and robust stakeholder engagements for seamless operations through the modern Joint Border Post which is the first of its kind in the West African sub-region
designed to promote regional integration, reduce clearing times at the border, increase government revenue, improve the free movement of persons and goods, eliminate corruption and loss of revenue at the borders, reduction of delays, operating cost and availability of baseline data for impact assessment.
He however called on his Benin counterparts to respect the International Law guiding the transfer of cargo from one customs administration to another
