…warns there won’t be escape route for them
As the yuletide season approaches, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has read the riot act to smugglers, warning that it will not spare anyone of them caught in the illegal act.
The Customs said it would do everything humanly possible to apprehend smugglers and impound their contraband as there would be no escape route for them.
The NCS National Public Relations Officer, Mr. Joe Attah, in a chat with our correspondent, expressed the readiness of the Customs to curb the activities of smugglers across the country.
Attah said the NCS was aware that when Christmas approaches, smugglers would become desperate to smuggle contrabands and other prohibited items into the country.
He, therefore, warned the smugglers to desist or risk arrest, confiscation of their goods and prosecution.
The NCS spokesman disclosed that the Federal Government would soon deliver some patrol vehicles to the Customs, adding that with the number of patrol vehicles being expected, the operatives would be empowered to comb all the creeks across the country, which smugglers could use as escape routes.
“We are waiting for government to deliver the patrol vehicles they promised to give to us. I don’t know how many. I don’t have the statistics but until they deliver the patrol vehicles, then I can be able to know and also let the media know about it. We have been arresting smugglers almost on a daily basis, which you know. But we have to put in more efforts, especially now that Christmas is fast approaching. But apart from Christmas, we have been doing our work the way we should do it. We have been recording successes. And we will keep on trying our best because that is our work. There is no escape route for smugglers,” Attah said.
Earlier, the NCS Public Relations Officer, Federal Operations Unit, Zone A Command, Ikeja, Lagos, Mr. Jerry Attah, advised smugglers to have a rethink by engaging in legal business, instead of losing their capital or even borrowed money to Customs auction
sales.
Attah said that the FOU Zone A, “Has blocked all the porous routes used by smugglers to smuggle contraband into the country,” and assured Nigerians that Zone A was a no go area for smugglers because it would never compromise.
He boasted that the Zone had made several arrests and impounded many contraband items.
He said, “Even before we entered the Ember months, we had been working very hard to ensure that smugglers never succeeded in moving contraband through this zone. We have been doing it. We have done it before and we are not relenting as we are still doing it again. I advise smugglers to go into genuine business so that the service will not seize their goods which will amount to shortage and collapse of the businesses. It can ruin their lives because their capital would have gone down the drain. So, they should repent and do legal business. We have blocked all their routes. We also know that the smugglers are very crafty. I mean they feel they are very smart but the Customs are smarter. No matter the system they adopt, we are usually ahead of them. That’s why we have been impounding their
goods.
“Within two weeks this year, we made great achievements. Not that we were not making progress in other weeks, but those two weeks were exceptional. That was the week we impounded the vehicle and the Indian hemp in it. We impounded 1,380 bags of foreign parboiled rice of 50kgs each valued at N18,288,174. We also confiscated 1,031kgs of pangolin scales worth N245,447,319 We also impounded another contraband item- this time it is 29.35kgs of elephant tusk valued at N8,118,737. Other confiscated items include 49 cartons of tramadol 100mg capsules at 300x10x10 valued at N73, 500,000, one MAN Diesel Truck with registration number XB 286 BEN conveying 2,748 cartons of codeine and 95 cartons of Chaka pain Xtra, which are also contraband. The service also impounded 140 cartons of vegetable oil worth
N1,701,000.
“We even confiscated 1,126 used bags and shoes valued N2,026,800. The service has to also detain 17 exotic vehicles, which include two Toyota Coaster buses (2017 model), four Toyota Camry (2014 model), seven Toyota Land Cruiser Sport Utility Vehicles (2015- 2018 model) and four Toyota Hiace Bus (2017 model). The Duty Paid Value (DPV) of these vehicles is N384,291,251,94. We did not only confiscate, we also arrested suspects for prosecution. We arrested eight suspects in connection with the 25 seizures we made. The service is working very hard. I don’t want to expose other arrests we made because we will soon parade
them.”
