The Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has intercepted 29, 905 bags of smuggled rice and 197 vehicles popularly known as ‘tokunbo’ between January and June 2019.
It said the seizures were made at the Idiroko border and the adjoining communities.
The Controller of the Ogun State Area Command, Mr. Michael Agbara, disclosed this yesterday at its Idiroko border office while briefing journalists about the activities of the command.
While talking about the seizure of the foreign bags of rice, he said this was the first time the command would make the highest number of such monthly seizure since he took over the mantle of leadership in the command.
Agbara said that while in the area of anti-smuggling during the period under review, the Command made 549 seizures comprising 197 vehicles, 29, 905 (50 kg each) and 15 (25 kg each) of bags of rice, 1, 466 kegs of vegetable oil (25liters each), 17 motorcycles, 9,407 new and 1,042 used pairs of shoes, three (3) jumbo, 69 sacks and one (1) small sack of foot wears.
Other items seized were 427 cartons of Frozen poultry products, 25 bales and 29 sacks of secondhand clothing; 12 sacks of Ankara rapper, four (4) sacks of yards materials and five (5) wraps of lining materials, 51 pieces of used handbags, 583 pieces of used tyres, 1,181 kegs of PMS (Petrol) of 25 litres each, three (3) bags of sugar (50 kg each), 143 book size, 21 coconut size and 11 sacks of Cannabis Sativa, 18 sacks of water proof, one (1) sack of snuff powder, 110 sacks of soap chemicals, three (3) sacks of Alligator pepper, 40 x 142, 60 x 200 and 40 x 41 android cartons of Itel Phone, and one (1) television set.
“The seizure of over 29, 905 bags of rice in the first half year of 2019 is indeed a landmark among numerous successes recorded as compared to 15,976 bags of rice seized during the corresponding period of the year 2018,” Agbara said.
“The aforementioned was achieved due to strategic enforcement measures put in place in line with the Federal Government Policy targeted at boosting Agricultural Development within the country.
“Also, within June 1 and 30, 2019, the Command generated total revenue of N1,196,146,835.60 while in the area of anti-smuggling the command made a total of 83 seizures with the DPV of N310,555,588.00.”
By Agbara was worried that the above activities were entangled with series of clashes between Officers of the Command and some daredevil smugglers/accomplices leading to loss of lives and properties. He said his Command will continue to dialogue, engage, sensitize and educate the public on social, security, health and economic implication of smuggling, while on the other hand, the statutory functions of enforcing compliance with strict adherence to the law will be rigorously sustained.
He commended sister agencies, opinion leaders, head of traditional institutions, eminent personalities, the Media and other law abiding members of the public for the cooperation and support given his Command to properly implement Federal Government policies.
