The Adamawa/Taraba Area Command of the Nigerian Customs Service has recorded nineteen seizures of assorted items with Duty paid Value of over thirteen million naira (N13m) from smugglers.
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This was disclosed in a press conference by the Area Comptroller, Salisu Abdullahi in Yola, Adamawa State Capital.
Abdullahi said the seized items included cartons of insecticideses, bags of foreign rice and over fifteen thousand liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PSM) packed in drums and Jerry Cans.
He added that intelligence reports have revealed that the smuggling of PMS products into West Africa sub-region still persists, owing to the fact that Nigeria’s PMS is of high quality and that some of the products could be illegally sourced.
“Illicit source and trade of crude oil and its by-products had resulted in remarkable economic losses to Nigerians and lawful stakeholders in the oil and gas industry. On the account of the inflammable nature of the PMS, most of it had been disposed of in accordance with the extant laws and the accrued process remitted into the federated account,” he said.
The fraction of the remaining PMS was auctioned immediately after the press briefing.
Comptroller Abdullahi noted that amidst the raid by the combatant officers, none of the smugglers was arrested as they fled abandoning the items.
The Command has vowed to clamp down on all smugglers, maintaining that the nation cannot afford to allow saboteurs take over the nation’s economy.
He further charged officers and men of the command to remain resolute and maintain the tempo in the fight against the menace of smuggling activities across the border lines and to ensure that smuggling activities become a difficult venture for those engaging in it and those intending to go into it.
The command also destroyed the donkey skin that was earlier seized by the enforcement unit of the service in September at the Sahuda, Nigerian Cameroon border.
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Members of the management of the Nigerian Agricultural and Quarantine Service, Adamawa State Command witnessed the destruction of the Donkey Skin since it concerns their mandate.
