Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ogun I Area Command, has announced the confiscation 11,820 units of cutlasses imported from Ghana into the country by suspected smugglers.
The cutlasses, intercepted and seized at a border community in the state, were concealed in 197 cartoons, containing 60 units each.
The Area Controller of NCS in Ogun, Michael Agbara, disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing newsmen on the activities of the Command during the second quarter at the Idiroko Border Post, Ipokia Local Government Area of the state.
According to him, the cutlasses are being used as dangerous weapons in communal clashes, saying smugglers had frequently attacked customs operatives using machetes.
Agbara disclosed the anti-smuggling drive of the Command had yielded positive results in the period under review with the 439 seizures involving 130 units of vehicles which included 2018 Model Black Mercedes Benz AMG G63 (bulletproof).
He disclosed that the Command generated N19,598,500 billion revenue in the second quarter, while the Duty Paid Value on the seizures was put at N500.766 million.
The Controller furtherance explained that the Command generated the amount despite the closure of borders, which had ‘shut down the Command’s means of revenue generation.’
He said the operatives also confiscated 11, 841 bags of foreign rice (50kg); 98,200 litres of PMS; 1,950 litres of diesel; 3,250 litres of kerosene and 3,204 cartoons of frozen poultry products.
Other seized items are 55 sacks of Cannabis Sativa; 40 drums of ethanol (Alcoholic spirit); 39 units of motorcycle used as means of conveyance; 11 bales and 40 packs of secondhand clothing and 100 pairs of used shoes.
Agbara, however, insisted that the operatives of the Command would not be deterred from performing their duties despite the attacks by the smugglers.
‘The Command will continue to dialogue, engage, sensitise and educate the public on social / economic implications of smuggling as well as performing statutory function of enforcing compliance in line with government fiscal policies.
‘We wish to reiterate that the continued attack on operatives of NCS and other sister agencies will not deter us from the performance of our legitimate duties,’ Agbara declared.