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Abdulqudus Ogundapo
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Ogun 1 Area Command said it intercepted a total of 7,311 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice in the last one month.
The state comptroller of customs, Dera Nnamdi made this disclosure while addressing newsmen at the NCS office in Abeokuta on Wednesday.
Nnadi stated that the 7,311 bags of rice is equivalent to 12 trailer loads of foreign parboiled rice of 50kg each, saying it also translates to 365,550kg or 365.55 metric tons of the grains.
The Controller disclosed that the command also seized 300 litres of vegetable oil, four bales of used clothings, 26 sacks of uses shoes and four sacks of used toys.
Other seized items are 124 packs (book size) and 164 wraps (coconut size) of cannabis sativa weighing 167kg, two bundles and four pieces of used tyre with rims, 810 cartons of frozen poultry, 20,775 litres of petrol in 831 kegs among others.
The NCS also impounded 20 vehicles and two motorcycles used as means of conveying the siezed items.
According to Nnadi, the cumulative duty paid value (SPV) for all the above seizures amounted to N172,999,387.
Speaking further, the NCS boss stated that the command, in the last one month, generated N2,437,050 as proceeds from auction sales of seized petroleum products and scrap metals.
“It should be noted that Federal Government of Nigeria’s directive on border closure is still subsisting, hence, there is no revenue generated from imports activities,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nnadi has warned smugglers in the State to stop sabotaging the economy, stating that, “Let me once more warn smugglers and criminal elements in the state that we shall definitely uncover every illegal act of theirs, make arrest and inflict gross financial injury on such ventures and their perpetuators.”
He emphasised that suffices the continuous attacks on Customs and other security operatives by those he described as unpatriotic people would not deter them from sustaining the onslaught on their smuggling activities.
“We are determined more than ever before to carry out our anti-smuggling operations without let or hindrance,” he stressed.
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