The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Seme Area Command has announced that it generated the sum of N1.050 billion for August and September, 2018.
The command, in a statement, said it anti- Smuggling unit also made a total of 120 seizures with a duty paid value N95.070 million during the months under review.
According to the command, its enforcement unit recorded the seizures of 14 exotic vehicles, amongst which are: BMW 5 series, Toyota Venza, Mercedes Benz ML 350, Lexus RX 300 etc. with a total duty paid value (DPV) of N70 million.
“Others were: A total of 4, 504 bags of Parboiled rice were also seized with DPV of N81, 162,080 (equivalent to 7 trailer trucks); other items like frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, and sugar worth over N13 million were also seized. Three suspects arrested in connection to some of the seizures are currently under investigation and possible prosecution.
The Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Mohammed Uba Garba, in the statement disclosed that the command was re-strategising by deploying a proactive anti-smuggling approach to enforce the federal government policies which will boost revenue generation in the command.
He further charged officers to complement the Comptroller General of Customs effort by adhering strictly to procedures in order to achieve the core mandate of raising revenue, suppression of smuggling and facilitation of legitimate trade along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor.
With the visit of Headquarters team led by Deputy Controller General of Customs in Charge of Enforcement, inspection and investigation to sensitise officers on the abuse of social media; Controller Mohammed expressed dismay over the flagrant abuse and unprofessional conduct by officers in disseminating official information through the social media, pledging adherence, commitment by the command to stamp out the menace.
The Customs Area Controller who is the chairman of the Joint Border Security Meeting (JBSM), informed all the relevant border security agencies on the need to comply with the Presidential directives on ease of doing business and strict adherence to the ECOWAS protocols of eliminating trade barriers along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor.
Consequently, he affirmed the setting up of an ad-hoc Joint Taskforce from the JBSM platform to be headed by the Commanding Officer 243 Battalion, as some internal monitoring mechanism to checkmate the menace of proliferation of checkpoints along the corridor.
He advised security heads to be decisive in taking actions that will facilitate legitimate trade viz-a-viz the ease of doing business in order to enhance the growth of the Nigerian Economy.
The Customs Area Controller also noted that the reinvigorated anti-smuggling unit of the command is yielding positive results as drug traffickers and immigrants who uses illegal routes are being apprehended.
While thanking all the security agencies for their collaborative efforts for the protection of the economy, he further advised and warned smugglers and non-compliant stakeholders to be receptive to the new social order of the service otherwise the anti-smuggling war will soon be at their doorsteps.
