The Ogun State Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has revealed that it intercepted 1,848 bags of foreign rice smuggled into the country through the Idiroko border all within the month of July.
The Area Controller of the command – Michael Agbara disclosed this at its Idiroko border office while briefing journalists about its activities.
He said that the 1,848 bags of foreign rice seizure was the highest so far made this year.
He also said the command also generated total revenue of N1.28bn in the period under review, while it only targeted monthly revenue of N643.4m.
Agbara said the command overshot its monthly targeted by the total sum of N637.5m.
He also explained that in the area of anti-smuggling, it made 102 seizures, comprising other items such as 23 units of used vehicles popularly known as ‘Tokunbo’, 320 bags of sugar, 201 used tyres, 200 kegs of Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol among others.
In the area of arrest and conviction made by the command, Agbara said while it arrested a notorious smuggler based in Owode, it had three other suspects convicted at the Federal High Court, Abeokuta for vandalising the official patrol vehicle of its anti-smuggling team.
He said, “We will continue to hunt all those economic saboteurs who smuggled contraband into the country. The rice revolution is already yielding fruits, so we will stop any smuggler who might want to derail this achievement to have Nigeria feed its own people with its own rice.”
