The Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said that it intercepted various contraband and other goods with the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N713million within January and February 2017.
The unit also, through its interventions recovered N650million from duty payments and demand notices on general goods that tried to beat the system from seaports, airport and border stations in the guise of false declaration, transfer of value, and short change in duty payment that are meant for the federal government, making a cumulative of N1.364 billion.
While commending the officers of the Unit for living up to their statutory responsibilities in suppression of smuggling, blocking all revenue leakages, Controller of the Unit, Comptroller Haruna Mamudu thanked the Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ibrahim Ali for his effort in recognizing hard work and diligence to duty without any compromise.
In the months under review, 197 different seizures were recorded comprising foreign parboiled rice, frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, smuggled vehicles, Indian hemp, arms, fake pharmaceutical/medicaments and various general merchandises.
A statement signed by Public Relations Officer, Jerry Attah, quoted Mamudu as saying that the unit evacuated 1,870 bags of smuggled foreign parboiled rice and 43 jerry cans of vegetable oil from the front of an unnamed warehouse in Sango Ota motor park in Ogun State by field operatives based on information, monitoring and trailing of some dare devil smugglers’ activities through unapproved routes using commercial motorcycles popularly known as ‘Okada’ and smaller vehicles ferrying on a very high speed and other concealment methods in carrying out their nefarious acts,”
The statement said that 23,000 bags of 50kg of foreign parboiled rice with a duty paid value of N149.5million is still under seal in an unnamed warehouse in Lagos awaiting relevant importation document for further necessary action.
It explained that the Unit’s action is in conformity with the law of the Federation of Nigeria as enshrined in sections 147, 148, and 158 of the Customs Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap C45 LFN 2004.
Also, Demand Notices of over N100million has been issued to two auto dealers/assemblers under customs seal awaiting payment for infractions on their import transactions, while some are still undergoing court trials. Over 16x40ft containers under detention are on thorough investigation and appropriate DN would be raised and seizures effected where applicable, the statement said.
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