Essential Ndubuisi
LAGOS—The Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, yesterday, said it impounded 36,742 X 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice equivalent to 62 trailer loads, Indian hemp, Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, used clothes and tyres and others with a Duty Paid Value, PDV, at N4 billion in six months.
The unit also recovered N400.6 million from goods imported into the country from the nation’s seaports with an under-declared value that would have been lost but for the intervention of the unit, noting also that 60 suspects were arrested within the period under review.
Disclosing this in Lagos, Customs Area Controller, CAC, of the unit, Hussein Ejibunu, said some of them were ferried through bush paths using motorcycles and rickety vehicles as means of conveyance.
The Customs boss said the items seized include 14,015 (7,728) parcels of Indian hemp, 1,064 bales of used clothing, 450 x 106kg drums of carbide, 2 x 20 containers of unprocessed wood and 1,448 pieces of foreign rugs.
He said others are 30 units of used motorcycles, 44 units of used vehicles (tokunbo), 218,575 litres of premium motor spirit (PMS), 860 cartons of foreign poultry products and 833 pieces of used tyres.
According to him, “Within the first six months of the year, our activities resulted in a high volume and value of seizures with some suspects arrested. We also succeeded in preventing the entry of dangerous or harmful substances like illicit drugs into society.”
