The Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, has announced the interception of N67m worth of contraband between January 7 and January 14 along various unapproved routes within its area of coverage.
The Acting Controller of the zone- Usman Yahaya, who disclosed this, attributed the feat to credible intelligence made available to the command.
Yahaya, who resumed as the controller of the zone one week ago, listed the items intercepted to include; 2,065 jerrycans (25 litres) of vegetable oil, 1,185 bags of 50kg foreign parboiled rice, 1,500 jerrycans (25litres) of diesel.
“All the seized items have a duty paid value of N67.3m,” he said.
According to a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer, FOU- Mr Jerry Attah, the feat is coming as a result of series of meetings held with sectional heads, team/patrol leaders where Yahaya unveiled the management’s mandate bestowed on him.
It included blockage of all revenue leakages, trade facilitation and intensification of anti-smuggling operations at various entry points.
He said, “You will agree with me that the fight against smuggling can only be won if all hands are on deck,” he said.
He called on the general public to support the fight against smuggling by providing necessary intelligence that could assist the service in reducing smuggling to its barest minimum.
The command added that Yahaya’s redeployment was part of the Comptroller-General of Customs’ strategies to re-jig and reposition the service for greater efficiency and effectiveness, especially in the areas of revenue generation, trade facilitation as well as combating smuggling.
