A taskforce of the Oyo/Osun command of the Nigeria Custom Service has apprehended 17,450 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) from suspected smugglers.
The Area Controller of Customs, Adamu Abdulkadir, disclosed this during a press briefing held at the command headquarters in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Wednesday.
Petroleum products seized by the Customs’ operatives included 60 pieces of 100-litre drums of petrol, 388 kegs of 25-litre petrol and 70 kegs of 25-litre diesel, totalling 15,700 litres for petrol and 1,750 litres for diesel.
The Comptroller recalled that about three weeks earlier, the command showcased its seizures, comprising 525 petrol kegs of 25 litres each and two drums of 100 litres each, which were intercepted from various bushes within the command’s area of coverage.
He said the seizures were an indication of the resilience of the officers of command.
“We have a duty to generate revenue and suppress smuggling to the barest minimum while ensuring that prohibited items are not smuggled in and out of the country through our borders,” he said.
Abdulkadir also said that all borders along the Oyo/Osun’s Areas of Responsibility (AoR), among other borders across the country, would remain closed to any form of inward or outward trade.
He said the intercepted products would be auctioned and proceeds remitted accordingly to the federal government.
The Comptroller thanked the Customs Intelligence Unit, Customs Police Unit, Joint Border Patrol Team, Federal Operations Unit and the Strike Force Team for their contributions and synergy in the course of their duties.
He said that other security agencies, such as the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Airforce and Operation Burst, had also been of great assistance to the command.
