The Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it has intercepted smuggled items with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N10 billion.
According to a statement signed by Peter Duniya, Public Relations Officer of the unit, which was made available to newsmen at the weekend, the acting Customs Area Controller, Usman Yahaya, said the seizures were made at Ido-Eruwa road in one day.
He said the contraband comprised 34 fairly used and new vehicles laden with second-hand clothes, Indian hemp and foreign parboiled rice.
“We are showcasing a large scale of smuggled vehicles laden with different kinds of contraband goods. Some economic saboteurs met their waterloo when our operatives acted based on credible information and made a single seizure at Ido, Eruwa Road-Ibadan of Oyo State,” he said.
According to him, there was stiff resistance from the smugglers, who engaged the support of hoodlums to resist arrest, but Customs’ operatives displayed high level of professionalism and restraint to secure the contraband to the Customs warehouse in Lagos.
“Our operatives were met with stiff resistance from a combination of smugglers, hoodlums and villagers. However, with the application of high level of professionalism, the patrol teams were able to bring all the vehicles down to Lagos without any casualty,” Yahaya explained.
He however warned smugglers to desist from engaging in economic activities that sabotage the government policies of making Nigeria self-sufficient in food production.
“While we appreciate the support and the cooperation of patriotic members of the public in carrying out our mandate by providing timely and useful information, however, recalcitrant economic saboteurs should note that, they would continue to count their losses because Customs is better mobilised, organised and backed by the extant laws to be always ahead of them,” he said.
