Controller, Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone C, Owerri of the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Amajam Bukar has warned against consumption of imported frozen products saying that chemicals used in preserving them could be injurious to health.
Bukar gave the warning in Owerri last week when he supervised the destruction of 4,118 cartons of poultry products worth N83million intercepted by the unit.
The exercise was witnessed by other security agencies including the DSS, Police, National Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and officials of the National Agency for Food Administration (NAFDAC).
The controller said it took the collaboration of the Army and NAFDAC to impound the truck.
He said: “We virtually paid to get intelligence on the movement of the consignment after we learnt that they were loading the truck at Ore.
“We kept our surveillance until the truck entered into Owerri and when they noticed that they were being followed, they drove to the stadium, where they parked the truck and deflated the tires to make it impossible to drive it away. At that point we called the Army and Police for backup before we were able to impound the truck and brought it to our headquarters.
“Nigerians do not know the type of chemicals used for the preservation of the chicken. The chemicals are dangerous to health, so consuming the products is a serious health hazard that should be avoided,” he said.
In a related development, the Unit said it also impounded other contrabands with a DPV of N261 million.
Amajam while parading the seized items said “About 1,591 used tyres with Duty Paid Value of N14,378,400; 3889 bags of rice worth N101,478,000; 380 cartons of soap with DPV of N10,093,009, 1x40ft container intercepted along Aba/Eleme containing assorted goods including 6600 pieces of sewing machine were seized by the unit.
Others are 3080 sewing machine motor, 47 pieces of empty gas cylinder, 19 pieces of gas stove, 9900 packets of measuring tape, 1080 bundles of PVC package, 320 scissors amongst other items.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.