Three weeks after it destroyed cartons of seized poultry products worth millions of naira, the Western Marine Command (WMC) of the Nigeria Customs Service has again destroyed 950 cartons of these contraband items.
The command also intercepted 302 bags of rice with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N3.4million.
Addressing journalists at the dump site where the poultry products with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N6, 175, 000 were buried yesterday, Customs Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Audu Zakka said that the products were intercepted at the riverside area of Idiroko axis between Benin Republic and the Nigerian border.
The seizure which according to him was unprecedented in the history of the command was as a result of the yuletide season approaching.
“We are at the ember months and trading activities between Nigeria and neighboring countries gets a bit higher during this period and I won’t be surprise that the activities are picking up now and smugglers are more daring but I want to assure them that we too are more daring and we will face them face to face on the waters and on the beaches”, he said.
The customs boss attributed the feat to the synergy between the command and the rapid respond squad created by the Comptroller General.
“One of the strategy we have employed is that we have energized our teams and we are liaising with the federal operations unit and with the CG’s task force, with all of this, hardly will any smugglers pass through our area unnoticed, one of such result is this seizure we made last night” he said.
He said due to the terrain officers of the command operate, no arrest was made as the smugglers escape through the river.
“Our terrain is different such that we see the smugglers and they see us, they tend to escape through the waterways and it is not advisable that out officers jump in the river and follow them”, he said.
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