… Impounds Goods Worth N13.9 billion
Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A has said that the unit lost 4 gallant officers to the die hard smugglers in an active service and arrested 176 suspects that were involved in the act of smuggling in the year 2022.
The Controller in charge of the unit, Deputy Comptroller Kehinde Ejibunu Hussieni revealed this information during a press briefing organized in the unit conference room yesterday at Ikeja in Lagos.
The Customs Area Controller (CAC) said that the unit impounded contraband goods with Duty Paid Value, DPV worth N13.9 billion in the year under review.
The (CAC) of the Unit said the Unit also recovered a total of N878.3 million that would have been lost through duty underpayment on goods cleared from the nation’s seaports and border stations.
In His words “We prosecuted our core mandates without fear or favour in the six states of the South-West namely: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo states. Even in the face of resistance, attacks, and tricks in the mode of concealment, we were duty-bound to carry out our responsibilities.
“We arrested 176 smuggling suspects last year, and secured seven convictions, 14 were charged to court and are at various stages of investigation and prosecution, seven suspects are in detention; two suspects were handed over to NDLEA, and one suspect was handed over to the Nigerian Police respectively, while 151 are on administrative bail.
“On a sad note, four of our officers namely: Late inspectors of Customs TP Astor, and A Onwueguzie, and Assistant Inspectors of Customs, Musa, R and Bristol, E lost their lives in active service while confronting smugglers last year. While we frowned at such murderous acts, we also ensured that those behind some of the killings were arrested to face justice.
“From January 1 to December 31, 2022, we made a total seizure of smuggled items worth a duty paid value of N13,908,575,436.5. Aside from protecting the national economy, some of the seizures achieved protection of citizens’ health because dangerous, expired, and harmful products were prevented from being smuggled into the country.
“The items seized were foreign parboiled rice, vehicles, drugs, textiles, petroleum products, and other items in the import and export prohibition lists. In terms of volume, rice topped the list of our seizures. We seized 93,102 X 50kg which amounts to about 156 trailer loads of rice. Even our newly constructed warehouse had an overflow of seized rice.
“A total number of 108 automobiles comprising of trucks, tankers, cars, and motorcycles were seized either as smuggled items or means of conveyance of smuggled items.
“Illicit drugs seized during the course of the year under review are, 7,354 kg and 4,975 tablets of Cannabis sativa, 233 cartons X 225 milligrams, and 82 packs X 225 milligrams of Tramadol.
“It is pertinent to remind us that these hard drugs fuel crime and insecurity. For petroleum products, this Unit seized 656,414 liters of premium motor spirit (PMS); that is, about 20 tanker loads of fuel from economic saboteurs who seek to impoverish the majority of our country people by taking out petrol subsidized for citizens’ benefit to be sold in other countries,” he noted.
