By Godfrey Bivbere
The Federal Operations Unit, FOU Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, said it has impounded 15 trailers of imported foreign rice, Indian Hemp, used clothes, and other contraband items with Duty Paid Value, DPV, of over N1 billion in November 2022.
Disclosing this at a press briefing in Lagos, the Customs Area Controller, CAC, of the Unit, Hussein Ejibunu, also said 14 suspects were arrested in relation to the seizures.
Giving a breakdown of the seizure, the Customs boss said that 8,999 bags of 50 kilograms of foreign parboiled rice which is approximately 15 trailer loads, 128 parcels of Indian Hemp, 243 bales of used clothing, 2,976 cartons of new shoes, and 37 cartons of poultry products.
Others are 85,300 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, 812 pieces of used tyres,1x 40-foot Container of Charcoal, 2 x 20-foot Container with 4,004 cartons of Tomato Paste, and 13 cartons of knock-out, popularly called banger.
He also noted that the Unit collected N43.5 million through the issuance of Demand Notice, D/N from cargo cleared from the nation’s seaports and border station without payment of appropriate duties.
He stated: “We have continuously intensified our onslaught against smuggling, and dutiful implementation of Customs extant laws by this Unit, yielded seizures worth a total Duty Paid Value of over N1 billion.
“We were able to achieve the collection of N43.5 million through issuing uncompromising Demand Notices (DN) to collect the detected and identified shortfalls in duty payments. It is worthy of emphasis that the collected revenue would have been lost through different modes of duty evasion such as undervaluation, under-declaration, application of wrong Harmonized System (HS) codes, and false declarations, but for our meticulous oversight and prevention as a layer of checks.
“As the year draws to a close, let me reiterate our warning to smugglers, intending smugglers, and their collaborators; that FOU Zone A, would watch, remain active, and vigilant at all times. We shall vigorously go after them wherever they travel through, or store smuggled items, even if the smuggled goods are stored in their bedrooms, we shall lawfully swoop on them”.
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