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By Steve Agbota
The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) Strike Force, Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) yesterday, said that it arrested four suspected smugglers in connection with smuggling of 13 trucks of foreign rice, 966 slabs of donkey skins and other contraband with duty paid value (DPV) of N7. 432 billion.
The Coordinator of CGC Strike Force, DC Mohammed Yusuf, disclosed this while presenting its scorecard for the half year of 2022, saying importing what Nigeria can produce threatens the nation’s economy.
According to him, unlawful felling of trees degrades the environment and promotes deforestation while the illegal killing of wildlife creatures and endangered species like pangolin and donkeys for their scales and skins respectively, could lead to these animals’ extinction.
“With these and other tasks under our purview, we shall resolute and unrelenting to arrest perpetrators, seize prohibited items from them or their accomplices, and promote lawful trade using the legal instrument of the extant Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) CAP 45LFN.
“We made seizures worth a total duty paid value (DPV) of N7.433, with four (4) arrested suspects in connection with some of the seizures during the period under review. Notable among the seized items are over 8,000 bags of foreign parboiled rice of 50kg each, equivalent of 13 trucks, 1x40ft container of Tramadol, Sildenafil citrate, 1613 bottles of 100ml Codeine. Others are 1079 bales of secondhand clothing, 3,695 pieces of used tyres, 966 slabs of Donkey skin, 77,760 pairs of new Ladies shoes, 5,250 pairs of used shoes and 197 logs of wood,” he said.
