The Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’ Ikeja, Lagos of the Nigeria Customs Service says it intercepted various contraband with duty paid value of N1.3 billion between January and June 2017.
Similarly, the unit through interventions recovered N1.2billion from duty payments and demand notices on general goods that tried to beat the system from seaports, airport and border stations through wrong classification, transfer of value, and short-change in duty payment, making a cumulative of N2.5billion within the period under review.
A statement by the Unit’s Public Relations Officer, Jerry Attah on Sunday, a copy of which was made available to SHIPS & PORTS DAILY said 95 suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures and 475 different seizures comprising foreign parboiled rice, frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, smuggled vehicles, Indian hemp, arms, fake pharmaceutical/medicaments and various general merchandise were also recorded.
Attah quoted Controller of the Unit, Comptroller Mohammed Uba as expressing appreciation to the Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali and the management team for their efforts in recognizing hard work and putting square begs in square holes.
“Without the management motivation and necessary logistic support, we won’t have achieved this feat within this period,” Uba said.
Comptroller Uba also commended the commitment and diligence of the officers and men of the Unit for thwarting the antics of dare devil smugglers who used different methods for concealment.
He charged all his officers to be professional and diligent in performing their statutory responsibilities; most especially in the area of anti-smuggling operations by making sure all revenue leakages are blocked.
Comptroller Uba added that smuggling is a global phenomenon, which cannot be curbed entirely but can be brought to its barest minimum.
“This feat was not unconnected with the courtesy calls he paid to some key stakeholders most especially sister security agencies within our areas of jurisdiction comprising the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division, Nigerian Army, Lagos; Commander, 9 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Cantonment Ikeja; Commander, 35 Artillery, Nigerian Army, Alamala Baracks Abeokuta, Ogun State; Commissioners of Police, Ogun and Lagos State where he seeks for their continuous support and cooperation towards winning the war against smuggling,” the statement said.