Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it has intercepted goods worth N42.429 million in various locations in Kebbi.
The Coordinator, Border Drill Sector 4 of NCS, North-West axis, Mr Kola Oladeji, disclosed this while addressing newsmen at the NCS headquarters in the state, in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday.
“Goods worth N42,429,534.63 were intercepted in various locations in Kebbi,” Oladeji said, adding that the driver of the truck was arrested, alongside the smuggled items.
He said that the suspect had been granted bail, in accordance with his fundamental human rights.
Oladeji listed the items intercepted to include: 972,500 of packaging materials worth N32,088,037.31, 16 bales of used cloths worth N5,284,700.00; 95 cartons of foreign spaghetti worth N1,192,360.44 and 65 jerry cans of vegetable oil worth N3,864,436.88.
“The items here have duty paid value. The total duty paid value of the seized items is N42,429,534.63. This is big money. They invested in wrong businesses and in wrong places.
“This is the reward for being saboteur of the nation’s economy; this is the reward for being smugglers.
“They will never recover this money again because we are seizing them, including the conveyance. This is in accordance with the Customs Act of 2023, Section 2445,” he said.
The coordinator advised smugglers to toe a new path of business, as the service was always ready to assist any Nigerian who involves in legitimate business.
According to him, it is part of the service’s mandates to facilitate legitimate businesses for the growth of the nation’s economy.
Oladeji reminded the general public that it was the decision of ECOWAS that borders should remain closed, adding that there would not be any movement of goods and services through the borders.
“I am using this opportunity to inform our people that the borders still remain closed and that the joint patrol, of which I am the coordinator, has been given the mandate to ensure that there is total compliance with the border closure.
“If we don’t carry our foods to other countries, we will have sufficient food to eat in Nigeria.
“Some of our people are producing local rice and smuggling them out to other countries while we are still hungry at home.
“If we discover anybody smuggling out such food, we will arrest them and impound the goods,” he said.
Oladeji noted that smugglers had adopted another style of putting foreign goods inside made-in-Nigeria cartons in order to deceive customs officers.
He said that some of the items impounded were from Yauri waterside, Bani, in Bunza, Ambursa and Bagudo waterside, saying that the seizure was between January and February 2024.
The coordinator further stated that the smugglers were using horses and motorcycles to convey the items from various locations, where they were deposited, to outside the country. (NAN)