The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service said it has intercepted three bullet proof vehicles worth N58.7 million smuggled into the country at different entry locations.
The bullet proof cars include a black Jeep Escalade, Toyota Land Cruiser (VKR) and a black Mercedes Benz Bus with a foreign number plate.
Public Relations Officer of the command, Taupyen Selchang said in a statement made available to SHIPS & PORTS DAILY yesterday that the Controller of the Command, Victor Dimka while inspecting the seized bullet proof vehicles said that the security of the nation remained a top priority to the border commands of the NCS.
He stated that the challenge of security is vital to the survival of the nation’s socio-economic and political system; hence the need to ensure that bullet proof vehicles undergo security procedure for approval from the office of the National Security Adviser before importation.
He added that apart from generating revenue, suppression of smuggling and facilitation of legitimate trade, the Service has a complementary role of protecting the territorial integrity of this nation.
Dimka said the seizures recorded by the command in recent times attest to the alertness and the security consciousness of the anti-smuggling unit adding that the command will not relent in its effort at combating smuggling and other cross border vices.
Meanwhile the command said it generated N1billion as revenue in the month of September, 2016. The amount generated surpassed the sum of N883million that was collected within the same period under review in 2015 with over N245million.
The increase in the revenue figure according to Dimka is said to be unprecedented in recent times.
He said that the previous challenge of revenue in the Command has been overcome pointing out that there will be a boost in revenue if the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Republic of Benin translates into handing over of all transit vehicles to Seme Command.
“Though the previous months were characterized by a lot of challenges that militated against the smooth collection of revenue in the command, but it heartwarming to note that efforts put in place to address the challenges yielded the expected result far above the preceding months.
“With the compliance in the general unification of values across border commands, the implementation of the complete 17 digits declaration of VIN and the strict adherence to clearance procedure of general goods, the feat recorded would sustained. once the principle of compliance, transparency and integrity while discharging the core mandates of the Service is strictly adhered to,” he said.
The Command said it also made a total of 76 seizures with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N67million in the period under review.
