The Federal Operations Unit 9FOU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that it intercepted various contraband goods with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of three hundred and thirty-four million, forty-two thousand, three hundred and ninety-six Naira, eight Kobo (N334, 042, 396. 8).
Similarly, the unit through its interventions recovered two hundred and seventy-three million, six hundred and seventy-five thousand, one hundred and thirty-eight Naira, seventy-five Kobo (N273, 675, 138. 75) from duty payments and demand notices on general goods that tried to beat the system from seaports, airports and border stations in the guise of false declaration, transfer of value and shortchange in duty payment that were meant for the federal government of Nigeria.
The Customs Area Controller of the Unit, Comptroller Uba Garba Mohammed who disclosed this in a press briefing at the unit’s headquarters at Ikeja, Lagos on Wednesday said that a cumulative of six hundred and seven million, seven hundred and seventeen thousand, five hundred and thirty-five Naira, fifty-five Kobo (N607, 717, 535. 55) was intercepted/recovered between the months of April 1st to June 12, 2017, thus making it a landslide in recent times.
Comptroller Mohammed added that a total of ten (10) suspects were arrested in connection with the seizure saying that within the period under review, a total of one hundred and fifty-two (152) different seizures/detentions were recorded comprising vegetable oil, foreign parboiled rice, frozen poultry products, smuggled vehicles, Indian hemp, used tyres and various general merchandise.
According to him,” You will agree with me that smuggling is a global phenomenon which cannot be curbed entirely but can be brought to its barest minimum. Let me use this opportunity to praise the commitment and diligence of the officers and men of FOU A for thwarting the antics of some dare devil smugglers who used different methods for concealment. Recently, above all was the interception of three hundred and eighty-four (384) parcels of Indian hemp concealed inside bales of second hand clothing from Ghana along Iyana-Ipaja road based on information. In the spirit inter-agency relationship, the suspect and the contents will be handed over to the NDLEA for prosecution in court of competent jurisdiction that will serve as deterrent to others.
“Notably, based on information and after physical examination, we have seized five containers that contravened customs law by means of false declaration and breach of import prohibition list by trade. While two of the containers carried 4, 982 pieces of used tyres, the other containers carried 1, 292 pieces of general calcium vehicle batteries and piston rings compressor as against Pneumatic transmission valve and cylinder linear declared in their SGD. This act of false declaration falls under section 46 (f) of CEMA C45 LFN 2004, which is tantamount to outright seizure. One of the containers was also loaded with unprocessed rough wood ready for export”.
While appreciating the Management team of the Nigeria Customs Service under the leadership of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) for its effort at recognizing hard work and diligence to duty whose motivation and logistics support helped the unit in achieving the feat, he called on the members of the fourth estate of the realm to continue to partner the Nigeria Customs Service in the advocacy campaign against the evil of smuggling to the nation’s economy.
“There is always room for improvement and we will continue to intensify our anti-smuggling operations within our areas of jurisdiction in order to ensure efficiency”, the CAC said.
The journalists were later on conducted round the seizures located at the Unit’s car park and warehouse respectively.
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