Indications have emerged showing that the new Controller, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’ Ikeja Lagos, Mohammed Aliyu has stepped up surveillance and anti-smuggling intelligence.
This is coming from the success recorded by the Command within the period of September 4th to October 3rd 2018 which saw the interception of various contrabands with duty paid value (DPV) of N2,017,953,507:00
Addressing journalists on Thursday, the Controller listed the items seized to include “22 exotic vehicles, 11,303 bags of foreign parboiled rice (equivalent of 18 trailers), 2,410 frozen poultry products, 853 jerrycans of vegetable oil, 245 parcels of Indian Hemp, 4x40ft containers of unprocessed wood, 2,017 bales of used clothing, 283 cartons of various pharmaceuticals, all without NAFDAC Registration number, among others”.
He revealed the status of the vehicles to include nine Bullet proof vehicles including 4 Lexus Jeep LX570 (2016),3 Land Cruiser Jeeps (2016) and 2 Mercedes Benz G63 and S550 (2014/2015), other vehicles include: 1 Toyota Rav4 (2015), 3 Toyota Hilux (2018), 2 Toyota Highlander(2018),1 Toyota Prado (2018) 1 Toyota Land cruiser (2016), 1 Toyota Corolla, 1 Toyota Fortuner (2017), 1 Toyota Sequoia, 1 Lexus RX 350, among others.
“These 22 exotic Vehicles alone have a duty paid value of N1,179,889,909.8 only. While some of the vehicles were intercepted at Ogere and Ijebu Ode expressway, the bullet Proof Vehicles were trailed and evacuated from some private residence in Victoria Island based on credible information.
“Similarly, the unit through our interventions recovered N220,025,938.80 from demand notices on vehicles and other general goods that tried to cut corners from seaports, airport and border stations in the guise of false declaration, transfer of value, and shortchange in duty payment that are meant for the Federal Government of Nigeria, making a cumulative of N2,237,979,446 within the weeks under review making it a landslide in recent times.
He therefore praised the commitment and diligence of the officers and men of the FOU A for thwarting the antics of dare devil smugglers and further urged the Nigerian public to assist Customs in the fight against smuggling.
