Customs Seize Foreign Parboiled Rice Worth N307.89milion In Ogun

Nigeria Customs Service says 19,000  bags of 50kilogrammes each of foreign Parboiled rice, with Duty Paid Value worth of N307,891,696, were Seized between January and March, first quarter of this year in Ogun State

In March alone,7,000 bags of the 50kg foreign Parboiled Rice with Duty Paid Value worth of N116,586,607 seized, were allegedly concealed in branded truck of multinational companies 

Also the Command during the period under review, generated a total revenue of N12.32million including N8.62milion realized in the month of March, after auction sales of perishable goods and other seized items    

Controller of Ogun-1 Area Command, Peter Chado Kolo who disclosed this during a recent news conference in Abeokuta, the state capital, also revealed that a total of 167 seizures of various contraband goods, including frozen poultry products, Petroluem products, second hand clothings, Cannabis Sativa, vehicles and Motorcycles,were made in the last four weeks

Kolo described the quantum of rice seizure in March, as unprecedented in the history of the command, saying the bags of foreign Parboiled Rice in two trucks was uncovered by eagle eyes of patrol officers in Command.

According to him,"The trucks suspected to be coming from Ilaro Border were intercepted along Denro-Olorunda-Abeokuta Road. The intercepted trucks and the bags of rice in them had already been seized"

The Controller who vowed to continue with the onslaught on smugglers and other criminals in and round Ogun border Communities, condemned in strong term, attempts by smugglers to use branded truck of multinational companies to aid their nefarious activities, despite the continous closure of Idiroko land border 

Kolo however dismissed the report in  The Nation Newspaper publication of 16th April,2021 caption "Despite ban, rice smuggling thrives in Lagos,Ogun" 

He said that the claim in the report that 60,000 bags of foreign rice which was equivalent of 100 trailer loads worth N200million 

The Controller insisted that there was never a time operatives of the command compromised as claimed by the reporter, saying the success recorded so far by the Command would not have possible without the  diligent and patriotic zeal of the officers and men of the command 

"I wish to state categorically that all the allegations and claims in the publication are not true,they are a distraction ,mischievious and malicious and done with interior motive to derail the agricultural policy of Government and the massive  Investment in the local rice production of patriotic Nigerians and also Intended to paint the Ogun 1 Area Command and certainly the Nigeria Customs Service black in the eyes of the general public,"