Acting Controller Ejibunu taking the pressmen round the seized items.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The authorities at the Zone ‘A’ of the Federal Operations Unit, Nigeria Customs Service led by the acting Controller, Hussein K. Ejibunu has revealed the unit’s performance over the past one month.
Acting Controller Ejibunu stated in a press briefing at the Unit’s premises that “Our strategies are consistently being reworked in our efforts to be ahead of the economic saboteurs, towards defeating their game of concealment, false declaration, under payment, and duty evasion. Prominent among the seizures made for contravening various sections of the extant Customs laws are:
6,228 X 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice (equivalent to 11 trailer loads)
35,325 liters of premium motor spirit (PMS)
279 Cartons of foreign poultry products
105 parcels (50kg) of cannabis sativa
2 x 40 ft containers said to contain 883 bales of used clothes
8 units of foreign used (Tokunbo) vehicles”.
More pictures from the FOU A press briefing.
The total worth of the seized goods in terms of duty paid value (DPV) stood at Six Hundred and Ninety-Four Million, Four Hundred and Sixty-Two Thousand, One Hundred and Fifty Naira (N694,462,150.00). Five (5) suspects were arrested in connection with some of the goods.
Acting Controller Ejibunu indicated that “It is imperative to note that the wisdom behind the government’s protectionist policy is to protect the national economy and safeguard its citizens’ lives and property. Smuggled bales of used clothes expose its users to fungal diseases and other skin diseases like scabies”.
He noted that “Apart from the effect of smuggled foreign frozen poultry products on the economy, it also affects the health of its consumers. Some of these frozen poultry products are preserved under questionable conditions. This assertion is embedded in some previous laboratory reports by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)”.
He added that “As a part of the results achieved from the reworked strategy; expired, illicit, and other drugs that did not comply with the statutory import requirements were intercepted at different times and locations are constructively warehoused in 39 x 140 ft and 2 x 20 ft containers by this Unit, and will be handed over to NAFDAC for possible destruction (with a DPV of N1,422,000,000)”.
He also indicated that the sum of Seventy-Two Million, Six Hundred and Ninety-Three Thousand, Three Hundred and Seven Naira, Nine Kobo (N72,693,307.09) was recovered from cases of undervaluation during the period under review.
Acting Controller Ejibunu urges the general public to approach any Customs office across the country for information and guidance concerning international trade at all times
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