LAGOS – The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has generated the sum of N1, 050, 868, 570.20 for the month of August and September, 2018.
The Anti- Smuggling unit of the Command also made a total of one hundred and twenty (120) seizures with a duty paid value of ninety five million, seventy thousand and five naira only (N95, 070, 005.00) in the months under review.
Controller of the Area Command, Comptroller Uba Mohammed made the disclosure in a release made available to journalists yesterday in Lagos.
He disclosed that the seized contrabands include fourteen exotic cars, 504 bags of foreign parboiled rice, vegetable oil, frozen poultry products among other times worth over N163 million naira.
Uba also informed that three suspects were arrested in connection with some of the seizures, adding that they are currently under investigation and possible prosecution.
The release signed by the command’s Public Relations Officer Nurudeen Abdullahi reads, “The Enforcement unit recorded the seizures of fourteen exotic vehicles, amongst which are: BMW 5 series, Toyota Venza, Mercedes Benz ML 350, Lexus RX 300 among others with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over seventy million Naira. A total of 4, 504 bags of Parboiled rice were also seized with DPV of N81, 162,080 (equivalent to 7 trailer trucks); other items like frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, and sugar worth over Thirteen million Naira were also seized.
Three suspects arrested in connection with some of the seizures are currently under investigation and possible prosecution”.
Commenting on the revenue generated and seizures made, the Controller explained that the Command is re-strategizing by deploying a proactive anti-smuggling approach to enforce the Federal Government policies which will boost revenue generation in the command.
He therefore charged officers of the command to complement the effort of the Comptroller General of Customs by adhering strictly to trade procedures in order to achieve the core mandate of raising revenue, suppression of smuggling and facilitation of legitimate trade along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor.
While explaining that the visit of the Headquarter’s team led by Deputy Controller General of Customs in Charge of Enforcement, inspection and investigation was to sensitize officers on the abuse of social media, Uba Garba expressed dismay over the flagrant abuse and unprofessional conduct by officers in disseminating official information through the social media.
He however pledged the adherence and commitment of the command to stamp out the menace.
“The Customs Area Controller who is the chairman of the Joint Border Security Meeting (JBSM) informed all the relevant border security agencies on the need to comply with the Presidential directives on ease of doing business and strict adherence to the ECOWAS protocols of eliminating trade barriers along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor.
Consequently, he affirmed the setting up of an ad-hoc Joint Taskforce from the JBSM platform to be headed by the Commanding Officer 243 Battalion, as some internal monitoring mechanism to checkmate the menace of proliferation of checkpoints along the corridor”, the release also stated.
According to the statement, Uba advised security heads to be decisive in taking actions that will facilitate legitimate trade viz-a-viz the ease of doing business in order to enhance the growth of the Nigerian Economy.
The Customs Area Controller also noted that the reinvigorated anti-smuggling unit of the command is yielding positive results as drug traffickers and immigrants who use illegal routes are being apprehended.
While handing over to the Nigeria Police Force (represented by ASP Hillary Ikejiaka) arm robbery suspects arrested by the command (Ndidi Chukwuma and Toffa Joshua with eight million, five hundred thousand Naira (N8,500,000.00) in their possession) and Mr Difo Kenneth Cornelius with 14x500grams wraps of Cannabis Sativa valued at eighty five thousand, fifty naira (N85,050.00) to the NDLEA (represented by Udontong Essien) on the 24th of August, 2018 and 14th of September, 2018 respectively for onward investigation and prosecution, the commands helmsman alluded that the need for synergy and collaboration in executing the core function among security agencies cannot be over emphasized as demonstrated by the handing over process.
The Controller, while thanking all the security agencies for their collaborative efforts for the protection of the economy, further advised and warned smugglers and non-compliant stakeholders to be receptive to the new social order of the service otherwise the anti-smuggling war will soon be at their doorsteps.
