By Uzor Odigbo
The Nigeria Customs Service has recorded a total of N2 billion seizures in its Zone A office of the Federal Operations Unit within six weeks.
This was disclosed by Aliyu Mohammed, Controller of the unit at a press briefing in Lagos where seizures made from February 6,2019 to April 16 2019 were shown to newsmen.
The seizures include 113 units of exotic vehicles with duty paid value of N1,339,088,544 and other seizures worth N610,470,320.
Mohammed showed various smuggled and prohibited drugs without National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control ( NAFDAC) number.
He reiterated his resolve to sustain the fight against illicit drug smuggling as a way of justifying recent World Customs Organization (WCO) and NAFDAC Awards for his contributions to the fight against drug smuggling.
“I am ready to do more in the fight against fake and unregistered drugs. The award given to me is serving as a motivation to continue in stopping the illegality of drug smuggling.
“Some of the smuggled drugs concealed with other goods do not have NAFDAC number and they are capable of destroying lives.
“Our duty as Customs officers is not only to collect revenue and facilitate trade. We are working to save lives too. Those who are complaining about our presence on the roads are not sincere in their dealings.
“We make these seizures daily and we rely on intelligence to uncover what smugglers are hiding. On the allegations of harassment of smugglers by customs officers, our men work with information and endeavour not to inconvenience travelers while performing our duty.
“Our warehouse is filled with rice seizures and more are being seized. We encourage Nigerians to patronise our high quality locally grown rice, ” he said.
The seized drugs are codeine syrup, diclofenac, paracetamol injection and chest and lung tablets.
Other seizures shown to journalists are trucks of rice valued at N190,961,320; 180 Jerry cans of 25 litre vegetable oil worth N1,440,000; 157 bales of used clothes valued at N9,420,000; frozen poultry products worth N1,400,000 and 265 pieces of used tyres worth N1,855,000.
Also seized are 280 pieces of machetes and tomato paste worth N462,000 and N62,000 respectively.