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The Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit Zone A, Ikeja, has disclosed that it intercepted 70 contrabands worth N8.9bn in July.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Customs Area Controller in charge of the command, Kola Oladeji, disclosed this while displaying some of the seized contraband recently in Lagos.
“Within the period under review, we made 70 seizures with a total duty paid value of N8.09bn that was intercepted,” he stated.
Giving a breakdown of the seizures, Oladeji stated that 6,168 pieces of donkey skins weighing 29.606km were seized.
“Others include, 37,630 sachets of tramadol of 250mg, 11,820 pieces of new machetes, 4,740 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 978 kg of cannabis sativa, 1,145 cartons of poultry products, 15 units of imported vehicles, 257 bales of used clothes, and 11,700 litres of premium motor spirit,” he said.
He added that N133m was recovered through documentary checks and the issuance of demand notices on consignments that were found to have been short-paid.
Oladeji stated that the entire amount had been paid into the federation account accordingly.
“Comparing the month of July 2023 with July 2024, the revenue generated increased by N96bn or 245 per cent,” he said.
The FOU boss stated that the unit’s interceptions rose from 50 seizures in July 2023 to 70 seizures in July 2024 with a duty-paid value of N7.63bn.
He added that 14 male suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures within the period under review.
Oladeji noted that while the Federal Government was committed to ensuring the availability of premium motor spirit, otherwise known as petrol, to Nigerians, some smugglers were bent on taking the products to other countries for their selfish gains.
He said that the unit had disposed of the 11,700 litres of PMS through open auctions due to the volatility of the product after approval.
“The proceeds realised from the auctions had been paid into the federation account accordingly,” he disclosed.
The FOU Zone A boss maintained that the unit had uncovered a new method of distribution of those prohibited drugs.
“The smugglers are now using smaller vehicles for the distribution. Based on credible intelligence, we have intercepted 35,630 sachets of tramadol along the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.
“Also, the cannabis sativa was intercepted along the same expressway,” Oladeji stated.
He added that the unit would be hanging over the seized cannabis sativa to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for further action in line with extant regulations and in the spirit of inter-agency collaboration.
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