Acting Controller FOU ZONE A, DC Yahaya UB.
By Dili Utomi.
The Federal Operations Unit, Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service has continued to wage winning battles against the criminal elements parading themselves as business people, who have consistently and continually tried to circumvent the laws of the land in the area of import and export goods coming in and out of the country.
The Acting Controller of the unit, DC Yahaya UB, at a press briefing indicated the units zeal to constantly go the extra distance with a certain tenacity of purpose to carry out their functions. He stated thus ‘From January 1st, 2021 till date, our operatives in the field have been attacked at various points and at times while on and out of operations. Some
of the attacks resulted into maiming and killing of officers and destruction of official vehicles’.
The CAC indicated that in spite of the hostile atmosphere that they work in, that the unit remains
unshaken in fulfilling their given mandates. DC Yahaya noted that with the opening of Seme border by the Federal Government, smugglers thought they could cash on it to perpetrate their evil acts, but the Unit has left them with heavy losses.
The items seized included a total of 142,677 seizures of different items. 41,652 bags of 50kg smuggled parboiled rice; 1,356 bags of 25kg smuggled parboiled rice; 4,529kg of Indian hemp, 66 packs of Tramadol; 5,849 cartons of fake drugs; 266 units of means of conveyance, 218 used vehicles; 1,660 bales of textiles; 2,152 kegs of 25kg vegetable oil; 6,985 cartons of frozen poultry products, and 985 kegs of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) were seized as well as the arrest of 44 suspects in connection with the seizures. The total Duty Paid Value (DPV) is over N30,000,000,000.
The CAC continued by saying that as a unit, they will continue to re-strategize to ensure that smugglers don’t have a hiding place. He said ‘instead of incurring losses, I will advise smugglers to embrace legitimate businesses and become responsible citizens’. He concluded.
