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Men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ikeja, Lagos have intercepted and detained some Dangote trucks, amongst other trucks, for transpoting smuggled items.
Amongst the confiscated trucks were the Dangote Cement silo truck, and the Dangote General cargo trucks.
The Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’ Customs Area Comptroller, Comptroller Mohammed Aliyu confirmed this while briefing newsmen how the crack anti-smuggling outfit impounded contraband goods which included codeine, Indian Hemp, exotic cars and several others items, worth over N2 billion, within the first three months of 2019.
Providing a breakdown, the Comptroller mentioned seizures which included 113 units of exotic vehicles with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N1.4 billion; 600 cartons of codeine syrup valued at N240,000,000; 49 cartons Paracetamol Injection with duty paid value of N39,200,00; some 13, 810 bags of foreign rice with DPV at N190, 961,320; Indian hemp, Vegetable Oil, frozen poultry products, Tomato paste and used tyres, among others.
Comptroller Aliyu said he was specially motivated to enforce Federal Government directive against drugs, bandits and smugglers, following a recent award of recognition of the Command and the CAC by the National Agency for food and drugs Administration and control (NAFDAC), which held recently at the banquet hall of Aso Villa Abuja.
“I know that you are aware that we were given a merit award by NAFDAC, which was consider like a national award.
“This award in short motivates me and the command to work harder in enforcing the Federal Government’s policy on hard drugs; and that these smugglers are curbed. We will not relent but continue to fight these smugglers who are determined to frustrate the Federal Government’s policy on smuggled items”, he said.
Fielding questions, Mohammed posited that genuine vehicle owners with proper documentation can come forward to claim their vehicles.
“Most of these vehicles were intercepted in the bush, some along the roads while some at car mart, through intelligence report.
“Whoever appears to claim ownership of the vehicle without proper papers or documentation will be arrested and prosecuted” he said.
He reiterated that the command will fight tooth and nail in ensuring that smuggling is eradicated.
“The command is not sleeping; as we are also aware of their (smugglers) tactics. We are ever ready for them; we will ensure that we fight these smugglers tooth and nail by enforcing government policy on smuggled items” he stated further.
The Customs boss emphasised that trucks and vehicles used for committing smuggling atrocities will be confiscated and auctioned.
Source: Maritime First Newspaper