Ogun Customs confiscate 108kg cannabis

The Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, says it has confiscated 108 kilogrammes of cannabis and 170 jerrycans of petrol being smuggled out of the country to the Republic of Benin.

The Area Controller for the state command, Comptroller Multafu, Jilantikiri, stated this on Tuesday at the command’s headquarters in Abeokuta.

The NCS state boss added that within the first quarter of 2016, 6,705 cartons of frozen poultry products, 8721 bags of rice, 139 used vehicles, 199 motorcycles, 330 jerrycans of vegetable oil, 12 bales and 38 sacks of second-hand clothing were seized from smugglers.

Also seized were 996 pieces of second-hand tyres, 80 pieces of teak wood and 1,732 pieces of unprocessed wood.

Jilantikiri said smugglers were trying to smuggle the cannabis, concealed in 20 bags, into the country, while they were trying to smuggle the jerrycans of petrol out of the country.

On revenue realised within the first quarter of this year, the customs area controller said the command generated N2.7bn as against the N2.4bn it collected within the same period last year.

He said, “The command recorded an increase of N358.7m within the same period.

“The command is working assiduously towards achieving and even surpassing its monthly revenue target.

“The aggressive and effective anti-smuggling campaign and strategies the command adopted since January have compelled smugglers to make genuine declaration of imports and subsequent payment of duty.”

While he explained that his command had maintained a steady increase in revenue generation on monthly basis, he however lamented that the Federal Government’s directive, which placed embargo on importation of rice through land borders had greatly affected the revenue target of the command.

He noted that the directive against rice importation through the land borders had given rise to the activities of the smugglers who illegally import the product into the country, using motorcycles to convey them.