The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Ikeja has announced that it intercepted various contraband with a duty paid value of N1,618,177,661.50 from January 1 to 31, 2018.
The unit also said it recovered N91,366,436 in the month under review, thereby making a cumulative of N1,709,544,098.
Addressing journalists in Lagos yesterday, the Units Customs Area Controller, Mohammed Uba, stated that the seized items include 31 assorted vehicles, 8,400 bags of foreign parboiled rice (14 trailers), 1,652 cartoons of frozen poultry products, 835 jerry cans of vegetable oil, 10 sacks of Indian hemp, 2,208 pieces of used tyres, 159 bales of used clothing among others.
“Among the detained vehicles include four Rolls Royce, one Porsche Panamera, one Jaguar, one Bentley, two Lexus jeeps, two G-Wagon, one Toyota Land Cruiser, five Toyota Corolla, seven Mercedes Benz, among others, mostly 2017 model. These 31 assorted vehicles alone have a duty paid value of N1,429,953,941.50 only.
“While some of this vehicles were intercepted along Ijebu-Ode expressway, others were evacuated in various raids in Parkview Estate, Victoria Island, Banana Island, Alhaji Bankole Crescent in Ikeja, and Tola Adewunmi Street, Maryland.
“We urge the owners of these vehicles to come forward with valid customs clearance documents, otherwise they will be liable to seizure and subsequent forfeiture to the federal government in line with the laws of the land,†he said.
He said it recorded the success after intensifying its operational modalities to meet up with current smuggling tactics.
According to him, “For the avoidance of doubt, our action is in line with the provisions of Section 147 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), Cap 45, laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 which gives us power to search premises; and Section 158 of CEMA, Cap 45 laws of the Federation of Nigeria which grants us power to patrol freely.
“Let me seize this opportunity to warn all would be smugglers to desist from any act of illegal trade and invest their money in a legitimate business that will yield dividend on their investments. There is no amount of resistance from the smugglers and their mob accomplices that will deter us from performing our statutory responsibilities in all aspect especially in suppression of smuggling within southwest zone.â€
