By Uzor Odigbo
Despite the dearth of equipment at its disposal to combat smuggling activities at sea,the Western Marine Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, on Monday destroyed frozen poultry products with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N6,581,250.00.
While conducting other sister agencies to site where the commodities were destroyed, Controller of the Command, Comptroller, B.N. Binga disclosed that the frozen poultry products were intercepted at Yekeme axis in Ogun State.
According to him, a total of 650 cartons of frozen turkey and chicken were intercepted, adding that officers and men of the command will continue to comb the creeks in order to bring smuggling activities to a standstill.
Comptroller Binga noted that with the few equipment in place,operatives of the command were able to impound the items , saying that no suspect was arrested in connection with the seizure.
The destruction of the poultry products were witnessed by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Department for State Security (DSS) , National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control (NAFDAC) and officers from Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU).
Recall that Operatives of the Western Marine Command(WMC) of the Nigeria Customs Service now hire wooden boats to convey contraband items from all designated outstations to its base in Coconut Ibafon axis in Lagos.
The command since the appointment of Comptroller General of Customs Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) ,has suffered setbacks in the area of infrastructure that would have enabled officers and men of the units to perform better in combating smuggling to a standstill at sea.
