Not more than 48 hours after the Seme border command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), expropriated 400 sacks of grains on the verge of being smuggled into Benin Republic, the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, of NCS revealed that it intercepted export-bound trucks crammed with 880 bags of white beans, 584 bags of onions and 18 bags of dry pepper at Ajilete/Idiroko road in Ogun State.
In a press briefing in Lagos, on Friday, the Customs Area Controller, FOU, Zone A, Compt Hussein Ejibunu had said that instead of seizing the food items, the Unit ensured the trucks were re-directed to the Nigerian markets where they were traded to Nigerians by the owners.
The Customs boss had also raised awareness over smugglers new means of illegally bringing in foreign parboiled rice in petroleum jerry cans.
According to him, the act was not only illegal but also exposes potential consumers to the risk of eating contaminated grains that have poisonous properties possibly from premium motor spirit (PMS), diesel, or other petroleum products.
“Due to the contravention of different sections of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, and the federal government’s import and export prohibition guidelines, we energetically and relentlessly prosecuted our anti-smuggling campaign which resulted in a total of 93 seizures and 9 arrested suspects made to prevent smuggling and protect our national economy. The seized goods are worth a total duty paid value of N751.1million.@
“Rice was top on the list of our February 2024 seizures in terms of volume and value. A total of 3,779 50kg bags of suspected foreign rice equivalent to more than 7 trailer loads worth over N365m were confiscated from various parts of the South West.”
