SMUGGLERS ON THE RUN, AS SEME CUSTOMS COMMAND CONFISCATES CONTRABAND GOODS WORTH OVER N409 MILLION

Smugglers and other Economic saboteurs are said to be on the run, abandoning their smuggled goods ,following intensified border patrol and scrutiny by operatives attached to  Seme Customs Command of the  Nigerian  Customs Service (NCS) .                                                                                                       

 This is even as the Seme Customs Command, said it took full advantage of its renewed strategies against smuggling and hauled remarkable interceptions of 705 contraband items . 

                                                                             It was  gathered that the seizure of the various smuggled goods with a total duty paid value of N409, 851,533.14,  by Operatives Nigerian Customs  Service (NCS) Seme Border  Command  ,was achieved since the re-opening of Nigeria’s land Borders earlier this year on the orders of the Federal Government.

The above facts were made public in a press conference on Wednesday, March  31, 2021, by the Seme Customs Area Command Comptroller Bello Mohammed Jibo at Ecowas Joint Border Post Hall, Seme-Krate, Badagry.

In his  break down of the goods and items seized , Comptroller Jibo said a total of 79 assorted vehicles, 5,568 bags of foreign parboiled rice (50 kg each), 294 cartons of frozen poultry products, 232 parcels of cannabis sativa, 798 cartons of tomato paste, 3,208 jerry cans of Premium Motor Spirit (25 litres) and three cartons of sugar were among items intercepted.

Others are six cartons of slippers, 305 pairs of used shoes, 30 cartons of Nescafe, 19 cartons of Non Alcoholic wine, 10 cartons of cigarettes, 12 cartons of herbal soap and two sacks of condoms.

He commended the rare gallantry exhibited by his Operatives, however, the Comptroller stated that the achievements of his Command were aided by the synergy and  collaboration between Customs and sister agencies which were geared towards combating smuggling.

His Words  : “the landmark achievement is an indication that officers and men of the Command are not losing their guards in detecting and stemming the tide of the nefarious activities perpetuated by dare-devil smugglers.”

While conducting journalists round the Customs ware houses and seizure yard earlier in the day, the Comptroller confirmed that no suspected smuggler was arrested in connection with any of the intercepted 79 vehicles smuggled through the land borders.

Jibo , reiterated  his earlier warnings that importation of vehicles through the land borders, remains prohibited as such import is only authorised through the ports in line with extant Customs regulations.

“Most  of these  vehicles were brought in through illegal routes and parked within the Border communities, with the hope of taking them to various places through the use of forged import documents, Some of such documents were recovered in the vehicles”, he said.