Eromosele Abiodun
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, Ikeja, yesterday announced the seizure of two containers of animal skin, donkey hides, which were destined for export.
The Comptroller of the FOU, Aliyu Mohammed who announced the seizure at a press conference, said the animal skin were being dried when Customs operatives swooped on them.
Mohammed however refused to disclose the area where the offensive animal skin was discovered.
He disclosed that investigation was ongoing to arrest the suspects involved in the trade, which comes under prohibition.
Also seized by the Customs were drugs and 29 vehicles.
Speaking further, he said, “We have seized the skin in two containers. As you can see, this is massive. One can only imagine how many donkeys have been killed to have this large number of donkey skin in two containers. We didn’t see the meat and it is possible they are being sold out to people as beef. As customs officers, we are going beyond duty collection to protect lives of people.
”This seizure is part of our effort to prevent the mass killing of donkeys and discourage people from seeing it as a business opportunity. We also made seizures of codeine that is prohibited but was concealed with pain relief drugs without NAFDAC approved number valued at N101.6 million.
“Within one hour, our officers seized 13 vehicles last week. Now we have a total of 29 exotic cars, including a 2019 Land Cruiser. Total duty paid value for the seized vehicles is N712,172,706.”
