Other seized items included 108 kegs of vegetable oil, container load of used clothing and a 40ft container load of dynamites and explosives.

Steve Agbota

The Comptroller General of Customs Strike Force has announced that it has intercepted suspected imported explosives and dynamites from China at the Lagos port. This is even as the Strike Force revealed that it had seized contraband worth over N9 billion in the last one month.

Customs generates N1.1trn revenue, seizes N40bn contraband

Seven suspected smugglers, it was learnt, were arrested by the Customs in connection with the seizures.

Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, yesterday, National Coordinator of the Customs Strike Force, Abdullahi Kirawa, disclosed that the seizures were made through intelligence gathering coupled with the efforts of the officers of the Zone ‘A’ Unit of the Customs led by Muhammed Shuaibu.

According to Kirawa, the items seized by the Customs include over 8,090 bags of 50kg foreign smuggled rice and Pangolin scales weighing 7,560.9kg and worth over N8.39 billion.

Related News

Other seized items included 108 kegs of vegetable oil, container load of used clothing and 404 used imported tyres and a 40ft container load of dynamites and explosives of three and four sounds.

Kirawa explained that the seizures were made following tip-offs from some patriotic Nigerians, adding that citizens’ engagement has helped to bring down smuggling activities to barest level.

He assured that the service would not relent in its efforts to end smuggling in the country so as to boost the local manufacturing sector and generate employment for Nigerians and promote national growth.

“Strike force officers and men will not relent in their efforts of ensuring that diehard smugglers are arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others,” said Kirawa.

“Those that are engaging in rice smuggling are enemies of our people and our country because we have the capacity and the capability to produce the rice we can eat and hence rice importation through the land borders is prohibited,” he added.

Speaking further, the Deputy Comptroller added that the strike force set up by the Controller General has the mandate to ensure effective suppression of smuggling to facilitate increased revenue to the Federal Government while urging Nigerians to ensure that they conduct their businesses within the ambit of the law.