The Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ , of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has made 82 seizures worth N1, 720, 214,649.00 Duty Paid Value (DPV) and recovered N72, 442,526.73 through issuance of Demand Notices (DN) as a result of irregular declaration of consignments.
The Controller of FOU A, Comptroller Kola Oladeji who made this known in a press statement said the successes were achieved through the unit’s on-going operations code named ” Swift Sting Operations” and efforts of other patrol teams at borders within the south-western states of Nigeria.
He stated that the seized items include Foreign Parboiled Rice 3, 832 X 50KG bags each equivalent to 7 trailer loads, 27 Units of used vehicles also known as tukumbo vehicles, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS)= 494 Jerry cans equivalent to 14,820 litres, Used clothing= 27 bales, Charcoal = 95 bags, 3,643kg of cannabis sativa, 6 suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures.
In line with the dictates of the Nigeria Customs Service of promoting inter-agency cooperation and synergy, Comptroller Oladeji said the seized 3,643kg of cannabis sativa will be handed over to the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency for further investigation and subsequent prosecution.
He emphasised that the unit will continue to enforce the provisions of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 as it relates to import and export goods to prevent revenue losses.
According to him, the unit has since keyed into the trade facilitation tools such as Time Release Study (TRS) and Advance Ruling and the recently launched Authorize Economic Operator (AEO) initiatives introduced by the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi which has increasingly boosted investors confidence and efficiency of customs operations.
“The successes recorded so far this year were not made on a platter of gold. It took the painstaking efforts of our officers who spent hours on patrol and surveillance of our borders to achieve these seizures. Let me reiterate that we will not relent on our oars. Our resolve commitment to tame the activities of illegal trans-border trade and other crime remains sacrosanct.
“The unit will continue to enforce the provisions of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 as it relates to import and export goods to prevent revenue losses.
“This unit has since keyed into these laudable initiatives of the CGC by collapsing some patrol teams operating within Lagos metropolis. This is aimed at removing unnecessary trade impediments and facilitates business friendly environment.”, he said.
