The Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) Strike Force, Team A, said on Wednesday in Lagos that it intercepted four container loads of unprocessed woods valued at N373.5 million.
The unprocessed woods were about being exported out of the country to Asia when it was intercepted by the men of the Strike force Team A.
Recall that the Federal Government had in 2019 outlawed the export of unprocessed woods and allied products to protect the nation’s forest.
Ahmadu Shuaibu, coordinator, CGC Strike Force Team A, who showcased the items in Ikorodu, said the team in a renewed vigour seized four containers loaded with unprocessed woods, which the smugglers defied extant export prohibition list.
According to him, criminally-minded businessmen are riding on the determination of government to improve on the nation’s export trade, to indulge in illegal shipment of woods to Asia.
While noting that the team has shifted attention to identifying dangerous cargoes right inside the seaports before they are cleared, Shuaibu said the Strike force team A would go after those behind the illegal exports, and that the team would also cripple the finances of the sponsors.
“Among other seized items are 550 cartons of footwears, 343 rolls of synthetic grass cover and 1,709 bags of 50kg of foreign parboiled rice with a cumulative Duty Paid Value of N664.6 million. Within the period of January and June 2021, a total of 86 seizures were made and they were found to have contravened different sections of the Customs and exercise laws. The goods are worth the N1.65 billion in Duty Paid Value (DPV),” Shuaibu said.
He further disclosed that the ICT components of the team also recovered the sum of N1.9 billion from Demand Notices (DN) raised within the period under review, January and June 2021.
“Considering the socio-economic, security, and health effects on the national economy, importers, exporters and traders are advised to be committed to the wellbeing of the nation’s economy by complying with the Federal government extant laws and policies aimed at reviving the moribund industries and sustaining the existing ones,” he added.
