Officers and Men attached to the Zone ‘B’ Strike Force Team of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have arrested three smugglers and intercepted contraband with a duty paid value of N786,911,648 across the northern region.
The unit coordinator, DC Oseni Olarukoba disclosed this on Friday during a press briefing held at the Katsina State Command headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service.
He described the success recorded as part of their sustained execution of the Comptroller General’s directive to stamp out smuggling activities within the zone.
The contraband he explained, were intercepted within the long stretched borders of the Northern States which covers the Far North-East, North-West and North Central parts of the country.
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Olorukoba while taking journalists round to some of the seized items in display noted that 16 assorted items were seized within the period under review across Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and the North Eastern States of Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba.
He further stressed more community collaboration from the border communities especially information sharing and supply about the activities and movements of smugglers to get it right.
“Smuggling kills the business of the local farmers. So that’s why we arrest them in order to serve as deterrent to others for them to desist from the business, because they are savatoirs of the country’s economy.
“We have a challenge of information among our stakeholders and we, therefore, need strong community collaboration,” Olarukoba said.
The items seized from January 2021 to date include among others; 1,540 bags of 50kg of foreign parboiled rice, 4,857 cartons of foreign tomato, 410 cartons of foreign Macaroni, 294 bales of second-hand clothes, 307 cartons of foreign shoes, 1,527 cartons of foreign soap, six units of vehicles and three units of trucks.
Other items seized are 458 cartons of spaghetti, 29 bags of 50kg each of foreign sugar, 249 cartons of condensed milk, 60 cartons of coucous, 100 pieces each of realms and tyres, three bags of 50kg each of calcium chloride, 8,575 litres of vegetable oil and 57 cartons of cartons bleaching cream.
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