THE Federal Operations Unit, Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has revealed that the Unit collected the sum of N83,141,803.60 in January through documentary checks and issuance of demand notices on consignments that were found to have been short-paid.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos, the Customs Area Controller of the Unit, Comptroller Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu explained that, “Smuggling is a crime that has to do with; the act of false declaration and concealment of goods, the use of unapproved routes and ports for the exportation or importation of goods, forging of Customs documents, willful under-payment of Customs duties, and trafficking in prohibited or restricted goods among others.
“In a continuous and renewed vigour to fight smuggling, we activated an enhanced intelligence gathering and information sharing mechanism, and were able to identify some new smuggling hot spots and schemes employed by smugglers.
“This strategy yielded 60 seizures worth a total duty paid value of N854,156,712. The following major seizures were recorded within January 2024: 3,653 X 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice (equivalent to 6.5 trailer loads); 23,025 litres of PMS; 241 bales of used clothes; 1,490 kg of Indian Hemp; 1,220 cartons of foreign tomato paste; 983 pieces of used tyres; 104 units of Haojuo motorcycles; 556 cartons of slippers; and 11 units of used vehicles.
“The status of these goods was found to have contravened different sections of the Customs Act (2023). While some were expired at the time of importation; others flaunted the import statutory guidelines.
A total of ten suspects were arrested in connection with some of the goods.”