By Steve Agbota
The Joint Border Patrol Team Sector 2 of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it arrested five suspected smugglers, intercepted 1,410 litres of premium motor spirit worth N30.4m within one week and N1.128 billion contraband across the Southwest Zone.
The Coordinator of the team, Mohammad Shuaibu, disclosed this while addressing journalists at the Customs Training College in Ikeja on Friday, said that the five suspects were arrested in connection with some of the seizures and are undergoing investigation and prosecution.
According to him, the team intercepted 30 illegal immigrants.
“With the Nigeria Immigration Service as a critical component of the joint border patrol team, we intercepted 30 illegal immigrants suspected to have violated immigration laws and were immediately handed over to the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) for further investigation and prosecution,” he added.
However, he said that the team intercepted these contrabands within their area of jurisdiction adding that some were intercepted at the creeks.
“In our effort to actualise the mandate of combating smuggling and trans-border crimes, we intercepted some goods for violating various sections of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 and the Federal Government’s Import and Export Guidelines, the goods worth N1.128 billion.”
Giving the breakdown of the seizures, he said the team intercepted 4, 051 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 3, 751, Jerrycans of PMS, 425 cartons of frozen poultry products, 912 pieces of used tyres, 30 sacks of cannabis sativa.
“Others are 30 units of cars as means of conveyance, seven units of imported (tokunbo) cars, four units of motorcycles, and one unit of truck, among others. They were intercepted across the borders of the six states of the southwest geo-political zone,” he said.
The coordinator hinted that the team also recovered a total of N11.5 million as revenue through the issuance of debit notes on vehicles and other goods improperly imported into the country.
He warned smugglers to desist from the crimes, adding that smuggling has multiple effects such as undermining national security through the movements of illicit goods, such as drugs, weapons, and human trafficking, across international borders, which impacts negatively the economy by depleting the nation’s revenue base through evasion of duties and taxes.
