Customs seizes 3,529 bags of foreign rice

Over 3,529 bags of smuggled foreign rice with duty paid value of N62,159,700 have been seized by the Nigerian Customs Service in Niger State.
The Controller of the Niger/Kogi Area Command, Yusuf Abba-Kassim, disclosed this on Thursday to newsmen.
Abba-Kassim said also at the Command office in Minna that a diesel tanker with registration number RBC 05ZS suspected to be concealing imported foreign rice yet to be examined was seized.
According to him: “In keeping to promise, the Command initiated new anti-smuggling strategies, which led to remarkable exploits evidenced in the seizure of various items.
“We apprehended one DAF truck diesel tanker (six tyres) with registration number RBC 05 ZS concealing imported rice yet to be examined.
“DAF truck diesel tanker (ten tyres) with registration number MNA 893 XV loaded with 950) bags of imported rice.
“We seized nine bales of used clothes, four Toyota Corolla conveying cumulatively a total of 135 bags of 50kg imported rice.
“Another 397 50kg imported bags of rice hidden within the forests by smugglers.”
The Controller stated that the seizures were made at different locations within the Command’s area of coverage all in the month of October 2019.
He however regretted that some Nigerians still remain unrepentant despite losses incurred in their smuggling business.
Abba-Kassim said: “The arrest of the diesel tanker should send a serious signal to these recalcitrant saboteurs of the Nigerian economy that there is no hiding place.
“We are determined to beat all their concealment patterns with our superior intelligence network.”