The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit, Zone B, has seized a truck-load of rice concealed in animal dung by smugglers in Katsina State.
The Controller in charge of the zone, Shehu Usman, made the disclosure at a news conference on Tuesday in Katsina.
He said that the vehicle was arrested on Sunday by Customs personnel, adding that the smugglers concealed the bags of rice in manure to deceive the operatives.
He said that smugglers have devised many ways to perfect their acts.
“The government is serious on rice production in the country; there is the programme on anchor borrowers aimed at improving local rice production in Nigeria.
“Local rice is better than the smuggled one, we will do our best to see that such government policies succeed.
“We are serious about preventing these people from smuggling rice into the country.
“We are on the lookout and will not relent in our efforts until we drastically reduce smuggling of such items into the country,’’ he said.
He said that operatives recently arrested over 10 different vehicles with smuggled rice, and urged the public to provide them with relevant information to curtail smuggling in the country.
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