By Steve Agbota
Following false declaration, the Comptroller General of Customs’ Strike Force Team yesterday said it intercepted N1.42 billion cargoes from Debit-Note (DN) and anti-smuggling activities in Lagos.
Speaking while unveiling the seizure, its Co-ordinator, for Zone A, Deputy Compt. Ahmadu Bello Shuaibu, disclosed that 564 bales of textiles falsely declared as machinery, foreign parboiled rice, foot wears and foreign bags worth N895 million were intercepted while it also raised Debit Note (DN) on falsely declared cargoes worth N490million.
Giving a breakdown of the seizure; the cordinator, said other items seized are 1,252 bags of smuggled foreign rice, 564 bales of falsely declared Ankara materials, 637 bales of foot-wears and 30,256 pieces of foreign bags.
Shuaibu, however, warned smugglers and importers of contrabands that the unit won’t allow them turn the country into a dumping ground, while appealing to importers to make honest declarations always.
His words: “Importers and smugglers shouldn’t make Nigeria a dumping ground because these fabrics and footwears can be produced in Nigeria. We have textile industries employing huge numbers of Nigeria if we keep on importing contraband, then how do we want them to remain in business? “These are what can be produced in Nigeria. We have Hide and Skin factories all around the country. In Aba, we have young boys doing very well producing footwears, bags that the Nigerian Army patronised them for their materials so why do we need to import or smuggle what we can produce locally.”