By Uche Usim
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Headquarters Compliance Team, Northern Axis, has seized various contraband items valued at N537,333,128.
At a recent press briefing, the Head of the team, Jalo M.I said 203 assorted seizures were made between December 2015 and April 2016.
According to him, the Headquarters Compliance Team was set up to compliment the enforcement efforts of various commands in policing the nation’s borders.
He listed the seized goods to include: 2,923 jerry cans of 25-litre vegetable oil, 1,649 bags of 50kg parboiled rice, 2,623 bales of second hand clothes, 4,073 cartons of spaghetti and 17,580 cartons of Giv foreign soap. Other items are: 5,600 used tyres, 451 cartons of assorted drugs, 15 used cars, 46 used buses and 21 used trucks.
Jalo further said that under his watch, several offensive goods have been seized since the establishment of the Compliance Team, northern axis.
“We’ll remain on the offensive against the smugglers. They are economic saboteurs. We’ve zero tolerance for smuggling. But we will always facilitate legitimate trade. Our achievements justifies management’s decision to set up these teams, which was intended to block leakages at the porous borders,” he said.
and help to shore-up the revenue of the commands as well as intensify enforcement operations. The statistics clearly shows that our operations have continued to yield positive results, thus making the smuggling increasingly unattractive and non-profitable. This is so, because aside from loss of wealth, there’s possibility of jail term”, he explained.
In a related development, on March 26, 2016, another Customs enforcement squad known as Roving Team C and led by C.I Abubakar intercepted smugglers along Gusau-Funtua road in Katsina State.
After the operation, two trucks carrying various contraband items were impounded. The first DAF truck marked XB 393 NA was conveying various offensive goods like: 122 bales of second hand clothing and five bales of second hand bags. The second DAF truck marked MKA 693 KA was laden with135 bales of second hand clothes and three bales of second hand bags.
Abubakar also revealed that an IVECO truck with registration number AA 437 ZAK was also impounded with 131 bales of secondhand clothes, 100 sacks of secondhand shoes and five bales of secondhand bags.
Abubakar said the team will not rest on its oars, pointing out that the menace of smuggling if not timely checked was capable of messing up the economic plans of the government.