The Seme border command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has handed over two (2) suspects to the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested for allegedly possessing illicit substances.
According to a statement issued in Lagos by the command’s Public Relations Officers, Mr. Selechang Taupyen, the suspects, Mr. Sotoni Geopgesi and Mr. Achada Nonbe were arrested by officers and men of the command on information patrol along Lagos – Badagry express way on the 4th May, 2017.
Taupyen stated that the accosted suspects were in possession some illicit substances which includes; four (4) wraps of Indian hemp, one (1) pack of rizzler, five (5) cartons of amoria mixture and three (3) SWAN packets all suspected to be illicit substances.
Speaking during the handover ceremony, the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Mohammed Aliyu disclosed that the Nigeria Customs Service being the lead agency would continue to exemplify and inculcate the spirit of synergy and inter-agency co-operation among relevant agencies at the land border.
He re-stated that NCS would continue to perform among others, the statutory role of securing the nation’s busiest land border from trans-border crimes that ranges from smuggling, drug trafficking, human trafficking among others.
The Customs helmsman re-iterated the need for officers and men of the command under his watch to ensure that in discharging their statutory functions, legitimate trade was facilitated to generate maximum revenue, while aggressive anti-smuggling operation was enhanced to enforce compliance level to government fiscal policies.
On the low revenue generated in the month of April, 2017 which amounted to a total of N234, 266,289.58 (Two hundred and thirty-four million, two hundred and sixty-six thousand, two hundred and eighty-nine naira, fifty-eight kobo), the CAC attributed the unfortunate development to the persistent low level of economic activities despite the relentless effort of the command to create a conducive and an enabling trading environment for every legitimate trade.
In a related development, the Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service in recent times has taken proactive measures to eliminate all barriers that serve as impediments to effective trade facilitation viz-a-viz the ECOWAS protocol along the Lagos-Abdijan corridor.
The new Customs Area Controller, Mohammed Aliyu, who promised to consolidate on the achievements of his predecessor, is seen to be matching words with action as he further collapses some operational structures along the busy land border.
The Controller who occasionally monitors the modus operandi of officers under his jurisdiction by way of uninformed visit, enjoined the field officers to ensure that total compliance to the service extant laws is the hall mark while engaging in anti-smuggling operations.
He disclosed further that in order to ensure the standardization of trade facilitation and protect the territorial integrity of the country, all incoming transport vehicles with particular emphasis on luxury buses must be subjected to scanning procedure as it was done with trucks and containers.
Commenting on the trapped vehicles that could not meet the dateline of the policy pronouncement of the Federal government , he charged the committee to ensure proper documents verification and authentication of duty payment of each vehicle trapped in the Customs vehicle seat before release. He warned that smugglers must not take advantage of the exercise as the numbers of the trapped vehicles in Customs custody was known to the Command.
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