Three hundred and ninety seven vehicles worth N5.64bn were seized by men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in 2024.
Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adenbiyi, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday during a press briefing on the service’s activities for 2024.
He said “the service recorded significant seizures of other restricted items, including 3,785 bales of textiles valued at N945m, 183,527 bags of rice, various quantities of footwear, beverages, and other consumer goods, protecting local industries and supporting the government’s economic diversification agenda.”
“The service also recorded 397 seizures of vehicles valued at N5.64bn, as we continue to enforce import regulations and protect government revenue”.
Speaking on the efforts of Operation Whirlwind, launched earlier in the year, he said “the service seized 1,716,656 litres of petroleum products from saboteurs diverting the products to neighbouring countries.”
“Most significantly, our enforcement activities have yielded 55 arrests of suspects currently under investigation as we continue to dismantle the criminal networks behind these activities”.
On on the deployment of technology, he said
“these technological advancements, coupled with capacity building and enhanced intelligence-gathering mechanisms, will significantly boost our surveillance and enforcement operations. The integration of these modern tools with our existing frameworks is a strategic investment in the future of Customs enforcement to ensure that we stay ahead of emerging threats as we continue to facilitate legitimate trade”.
