By Suleiman Iliya
The Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘B’ Kaduna has made 645 seizures with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N1,668,014,050.00 from January – June 2020 as against 425 seizures with DPV of N762,051,950.00 recorded within the same period in 2019.
Comptroller of the unit, Mustafa Sarkin-Kebbi who made the disclosure while briefing Newsmen in Kaduna gave a breakdown of the various seizures made within the period under review.
Seized items from January – June 2020 include 157 vehicles,6,340 (50kg) bags of foreign parboiled rice, 2,276 kegs of vegetable oil, 2,352 cartons of Spaghetti/Macaroni, 162 bags of foreign sugar, 1,324 cartons of soap, 1,713 bales of textile materials, 14 cartons of mosquitoes coil, 394 cartons of various pharmaceuticals, 298 cartons of tomatoes paste, 270 pieces of used Tyres 1,167 bags of NPK fertilizers, 291 kegs of PMS, 484 parcels of India hemp.
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In the same vein, he said the revenue collected from smuggled vehicles from Jan-Mar 2020 amounted to N2,030,455,802.00 (Two billion, Thirty million, Four hundred and fifty-five thousand, Eight hundred and two naira).
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He noted that from January -June 2019, the total number of seizure was 424 which include 153 vehicles,
6,618 bags of parboiled foreign rice,
820 cartons of spaghetti, 167 bags of sugar, 856 kegs of vegetable oil
secondhand clothing = 147 bales of second-hand clothing, 634 pieces of used Tyres, 1,680 cartons of medicament with DPV of N762,051,950.
The comptroller said the successes achieved did not come without challenges which include attacks on the personnel of the unit by bandits and kidnappers allegedly engaged by the smugglers for them to have their way easily.
He commended the synergy with sister agencies, especially the Nigerian Army which lead to unconditional release of two (2) kidnapped Customs personnel at Batsari
In his words “One officer in the line of duty was shot dead by bandits and 4 others recorded the various degree of injury in the course of operations while Eighteen (18) defendants have been arrested in connection with the aforementioned seizures and are being prosecuted accordingly”
He called on the public to assist the unit with relevant information that will help to checkmate the activities of the smugglers who are causing economic sabotage to the government.
