Over 7,000 Bags of Rice,Poultry Products, Others Seized In Ogun- Customs

Over 7,000 bags of 50Kilogrammes each of foreign parboiled rice, including 600 bags loaded in Dangote Cement truck heading to eastern part of the country, intercepted at Ijoun border axis of Ogun State, have been seized by the Nigeria Customs Service in April

Also seized during the period are other contraband goods which included frozen poultry products, second hand clothes, Cannabis Sativa and vehicle used in transporting them as well as used tyres, sugar and tomatoes in retail forms with total worth of Duty Paid Value of the seizure put at N189.9million  

Controller of the Ogun Area 1 Command  Idiroko, Compt.Peter Kolo made the revealition on Wednesday at a monthly media briefing in Abeokuta, the state capital

 According to him, "the Command has been able to sustain its achievements in the area of anti-smuggling activities by recording another seizure of over 7,000 bags/50kg each of foreign parboiled rice (equivalent of 12 trailer loads).

He expressed concern that the huge seizure of the imported rice would have frustrated the Federal Government's policy on encouragement of local rice production and consumption, if allowed into the Nigerian market

His words,"It is important to note the catastrophic damage this quantity of rice will cause to the Federal Government Rice Agricultural Policy if allowed to get into the Nigerian markets. Several other contraband goods were also arrested in various quantities ie frozen poultry products, Cannabis sativa (marijuana), Vehicles used as means of conveyance, used clothing and shoes, used Tyres, Sugar, Tomatoes in retail form"

"Body creams and Petroleum products (PMS) made for export. The cumulative duty paid value (DPV) for all the seizures in the month of April, 2021 amounted to One Hundred and eighty nine million, nine hundred and twenty three thousand, two hundred and ninety three naira only (N 189,923,293.00)", Kolo added 

The Customs Chief restated that the government's directive on border closure at the Idiroko is still being enforced and no revenue expected from the command 

"The Federal Government of Nigeria’s directive on border closure is still subsisting as such there is no revenue generated from imports and exports activities. However, a total sum Two hundred and twenty five thousand naira Zero kobo only (N 225,000.00) was generated from the auction sales of seized petroleum products and scrap metals in the command."

Kolo vowed to continue to use the Command's strong intelligence network to expose the activities of smugglers despite the recent attack on Operatives of the Customs Service at Oja-Odan area of Yewa-South Local Government Area of the state

" I wish to re-instate here that our intelligence network in the command is still very strong as we deployed intelligence in virtually all our operations in the area and greater successes are continuously being recorded on daily basis"

 "Let me warn the criminal elements in the state that in whichever way and methods you plan your smuggling activities; we shall definitely uncover it, make arrest and inflict gross financial injury on such perpetuators",he warned .