The Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘C’, Owerri, Imo State has continued to beam its torch on smugglers of contraband goods in the country, resulting in the seizure of a total of 169 items with a Duty Paid Value of N1,379,772,517.00 and a total of N394,815,038.00 as an underpayment recovered within the period in question.
Forty-two suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures made, while 25 cases are now pending in court for possible prosecution of the culprits.
The period of seizures and arrests was between January and June this year.
This was in contrast to a total of N39,644,813.00 underpayment recovered and a DPV of N1,013,833,362.00, which the unit recorded in the year 2015.
The Customs Area Controller in charge of the Unit, Comptroller Mammudu Haruna, who disclosed this in a press release signed by the Public Relations Officer in Owerri, Assistant Superintendent of Customs II Onuigbo Ifeoma, said the banned items were confiscated by vigilant officers and men of the Unit on the Benin, Calabar, Owerri, Enugu and Aba/Eleme axis within the zone.
According to the Comptroller, the items, which were packaged and concealed in such a manner as to deceive security agents on duty, included 90 vehicles; 2,758 bags of 50kg rice; 4,160 pieces of used tyres; 1,337 cartons/set of furniture; and 625 cartons of fake drugs (medicaments).
Others were 61 containers of log of wood; 2,600 pieces of imported school bags; 97 pieces of 14 stroke engine generator and used fridges; 3,550 cartons of foreign frozen poultry products; 992 bales of second hand clothing; 897 cartons of foreign detergents and creams; as well as 167 pairs of foot wear.
Haruna, while professing the preparedness of the NCS to tackle the scourge of smuggling of unauthorized goods into the country, expressed delight at the seizures profile recorded during the first six months of the year 2016 as against that made last year.
He however re-emphasized the dangers and implications inherent in the smuggling of illegal and unauthorized goods into the country, noting that while the ugly practice had continued to deal a devastating blow on the nation’s economy, many families had been ruined as a result of the dastardly unpatriotic practice.
The CAC therefore appealed to Nigerians who are still trapped in the illicit cancer of smuggling to retrace their ugly steps in their own interest, warning that the Nigeria Customs Service is now better equipped, trained, motivated and reinvigorated to neutralize the antics of smugglers and to dislodge them wherever they hibernate to perpetrate their evil acts.
He also appealed to member of the public with useful information about smugglers, their agents and collaborators to always make them available to security agencies for necessary actions, pledging that such classified information would not be divulged to any individual, group or association.
Haruna also advised the officers to always discharge their duty without fear or favour and abide strictly to the ethics of their profession, adding that efficiency, productivity and dedication to duty should be their watch words in spite of any challenge facing them.
He assured them that government will always continue to reward hard work to deserving officers who distinguish themselves in the discharge of their official duties.
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