The $50 million seized by the Murtala Mohammed Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NIS) has been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The handover, which held in Lagos, was witnessed by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Spokesman of the Command, Joseph Ephraim, made the disclosure.
He said the money which arrived as a consignment of 36 packages belonging to a corporate organisation lacked proper documentation.
Ephraim also disclosed that the Federal Government Currency Policy requires any persons travelling out of the country with amount of money more than 10,000 US Dollar (or the equivalent in another currency) to declare on Customs Currency Declaration Form (CDF).
In that regard, the command recorded a total of 6,035 declarations of various currencies from January to June 2019.
The Command, which is overseen by JT Shoboiki(Mrs), also announced its revenue collected in the last six months as N29.1 billion, as against the N22.7 billion collected in the corresponding period of 2018.
On its anti-smuggling operations, the MMA Command said it made an unprecedented number of seizures and detentions of various items with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of ₦382,220,062.00 for the period in review.
Among the seized items are 1002 PCS of Air-Force Berets, 289 PKGS of different makes of Drones, 272 PCS of two way Walkie-Talkie Radios, 152 PKGS of Camouflage Inner Vest, Combat Shorts, and Camouflage Polo Shirt (No End User Certificate), 150 PKGS of Camouflage Peak Caps.
Other seized items include 100 PCS of Trackers, 79 Pairs of Camouflage Footwear, (59) Cartons of Tramadol (handed over to NAFDAC), 43 Bags of Donkey’s skin, (43) PKGS of Desert Camouflage Combat shorts,
27 PKGS of Complete set of Camouflage Uniforms, Safety Belts and rope, 7 PGKS of Pangolin Scales.
The seized hard drugs are Cocaine imported from Pakistan, concealed in two cartons and declared as household items in NAHCO Shed (handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA), and
suspected American Cannabis concealed in baby doll (handed over to NDLEA).
At a stakeholders meeting, Shoboiki advised customs brokers, Airline Operators and Importers to always make truthful declaration in their documentation for clearance purposes, while she warned the Brokers against subletting jobs to touts, who end up perpetrating fraudulent acts.
The Command warned that Brokers found wanting in dealings with touts would be prosecuted and blacklisted to serve as deterrent to others.
