The Federal Operations Unit of the Nigeria Customs Service, Zone A, in Ikeja, Lagos State, has revealed that it intercepted 11 imported vehicles and other contraband worth N854 million in January.
This was contained in a statement by Hussein Ejibunu, Customs Area Comptroller in charge of the command, on Tuesday.
Ejibunu said that the command recorded a total of 60 seizures comprising different contraband, and arrested 10 suspects in connection with the various seizures.
He further said that, “other items seized included 3,653 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 50kg each equivalent to 6.5 trailer loads, 23,025 litres of petroleum motor spirit, 241 bales of used clothes and 1,490 kg of Indian hemp.
“Other items were 1,220 cartons of foreign tomato paste, 983 pieces of used tyres, 104 units of Haojuo motorcycles, 556 cartons of slippers and 11 units of used vehicles.”
Ejibunu disclosed that the status of the goods was found to have contravened different sections of the Customs Act (2023), while some were expired at the time of importation, others flaunting the import statutory regulations.
He cautioned that, “The general public is encouraged to be aware of the consequences of smuggling and its harmful effects.
“Because it is this awareness that would help to reduce the demand for smuggled goods and discourage individuals from participating in smuggling activities.”
The Customs Area Comptroller, however, assured collaboration and partnership with relevant stakeholders in the area of information sharing and intelligence in its bid to tackle smuggling.
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He added that, “in a continuous and renewed vigour to fight smuggling, we activated an enhanced intelligence gathering and information sharing mechanism and were able to identify some new smuggling hot spots and schemes employed by smugglers.
“It is pertinent to note that Smuggling is a crime that involves false declaration and concealment of goods, the use of unapproved routes and ports for the importation or exportation of goods, forging of customs documents, wilful under-payment of customs duties, and trafficking in prohibited or restricted goods among others.”