By Uzor Odigbo
Customs Area Controller in charge of Seme Border, Mohammed Uba revealed foiled attempt at smuggling 7,524 bottles of water from China into Nigeria
The water with a duty paid value of N3,043,364.00 were uncovered at an Examination bay domiciled in a private facility in Lagos.
Also seized were 114 parcels of cannabis sativa tucked in various compartments of a Toyota Highlander SUV.
While reiterating the command’s resolve at suppressing smuggling, Garba said nine vehicles being used to smuggle soap,rice, used clothing, used shoes, insecticides, footwear and cosmetics were seized within a week.
He gave a breakdown of duty paid value for the seizures which include 83 cartons of soap, N1,816,424.00; 1,718 units of 50kg bags of Foreign parboiled rice,N655,250.00; 26 bales of used clothes valued at N918,918.00; 14 cartons of Nitro feminine soap worth N169,855.00; 13 bags of expired rice worth N54,860.00 and 8 sacks of used shoes valued at N98,090.00.
Other seizures he listed includes 65 units of 6 yards of textile valued at N63,759.00;11 cartons of insecticide worth N13,035.00 ; 864 units of 30 liter jerry cans of Sulphuric acid worth N3,542,400.00; 2 sacks of rubber slippers worth N38,228.00 and two cartons of lemon cream valued at N77,382.00.
He explained further that one of the vehicle used for conveying the seized goods is a Toyota Hilux van disguised as an official vehicle to beat customs check.
The vehicle was intercepted conveying 16 bags of rice at Gbaji axis. Duty paid value for the means of conveyance and seized items in the vehicle is valued at at N8,716,663.00.
He promised that the momentum of total compliance to all extant laws will be sustained to ensure optimal revenue collection, trade facilitation and suppression of smuggling to the barest minimum.
While highlighting the gains that the country will benefit from the inter-connectivity between Nigeria and Republic of Benin as launched by the CGC Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) in June, the Garba added that the Command has been surpassing its revenue target for the last three months running.
Garba said total revenue generated by Seme Customs Command for the first half of the year stands at N4,185,782,397,representing about 64% of the annual allotted target.
He also called on his Benin counterparts to respect the International Law guiding the transfer of cargo from one customs administration to another.
According to him “transit provisions have been codified by a number of International Conventions, the most important being the GATT agreements on Transit, the WCO Kyoto Convention, and the 1982 Geneva Convention on the harmonization of frontier control of goods.
“Article V of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) provides the freedom of transit and determines that There shall be freedom of transit through the territory of each Contracting Party, via the routes most convenient for international transit, for traffic in transit to or from the territory of other Contracting Parties These procedures are intended to protect the revenues of the country of transit, to avoid the circumstance that goods intended for transit are leaked to the domestic market..
“Such transit procedures should be simple so as not to generate excessive delays and costs. He declared that poor transit is a major obstacle to trade”
On auction of vehicles through bidding process in the customs online portal that a total of 37 vehicles have been released to the successful bidders in Seme.
He called on the general public to be vigilant against internet fraudsters who prey on unsuspecting members of the public to dupe them of their legitimate earnings through dubious ploys for auction of seized goods.
He clarified further that app.trade.gov.ng/eauction is the correct government site for auctioning.