The fight against illicit drug received a boost with the seizure of a whooping 262 kilograms of India hemp by the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service Ikeja in the month of April.
The unit said other banned items impounded by its men during operations which has an estimated Duty Paid Value of N746,157,425 included 8,309, 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice, equivalent to 14 trailer loads, 2,428, 25 liters of premium motor spirit (PMS) and 221 cartons of foreign frozen poultry.
The rest include 486 parcels (262kg) of Indian hemp, 4 units of foreign used vehicles, 111 pieces of used tyres, 10 bales of used clothing and 8 sacks of used shoes.
Briefing journalists in Ikeja, the Acting Controller of the unit, Deputy Comptroller Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu, disclosed that the unit also obtained 8 conviction of suspected barons at the Federal High Court within the past ten months just as 48 different cases are at various stages of prosecution.
DC Ejibunu said “the unit in it’s continuous quest to prevent revenue loss through various infractions such as under-valuation, under-payments, and wrong classification, the sum of N66,726,153.35 was collected following the issuance of demand notices to defaulters.
His words: “While the smugglers planned to take us unaware during the religious festivities, our round-the-clock patrols were sustained and backed with intelligence even during the public holidays. Interestingly, the outcome of our unrelenting onslaught against smuggling is the remarkable drop evident in the number of seizures recorded with zero casualties.
“We want to reiterate that it pays for importers, exporters, haulage operators, and their agents to operate within the ambit of the law because doing otherwise places them at risk of losing their investments and facing prosecution as enshrined in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA).
