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Customs intercepts 5,020 cartons of smuggled poultry products

By Moses Ebosele
07 October 2015   |   3:36 am
THE Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Zone ‘A’ Ikeja has impounded a truck carrying five thousand and twenty (5,020) cartons of smuggled frozen poultry products along Sagamu-Ijebu Ode Expressway.

cartons-of-poultryTHE Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Zone ‘A’ Ikeja has impounded a truck carrying five thousand and twenty (5,020) cartons of smuggled frozen poultry products along Sagamu-Ijebu Ode Expressway.

In a statement, the unit put the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the smuggled items at N30.1 million, adding that it was concealed in-between 2, 016 packages of bottle water.

The statement quoted the Comptroller of the unit, Amade Abdul as saying a suspect has been arrested in connection with the smuggling.
According to Abdul, the suspect is expected to facilitate ongoing investigations aimed at “unraveling the major kingpins behind this illegitimate transaction with a view to ensuring that they are prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others”.

He disclosed that the Headquarters Special Assignment Team led by Assistant Comptroller of Customs Shittu Abdulmaruf, Chief Superintendent of Customs Dahiru Shehu Usman and others while on information patrol impounded the truck on October 1, 2015.

Explaining further, Abdul in the statement issued by Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the unit, Uche Ejesieme, said: “The vehicle was immediately brought down to the Headquarters of the Federal Operations Unit Ikeja, where 100 Per cent   examination was conducted”.
He pledged the commitment of the unit to continue, “to degrade the capacity of smugglers however sophisticated they may be”.

According to the controller, the unit had “preempted that smugglers may want to take advantage of the Eld-el kabir celebration to perpetrate their heinous crime, hence the directive to all team leaders for a proactive approach”, adding that “the operational dexterity of the Unit cannot be compromised, in consideration of the need to protect our country from being a dumping ground”.

The Controller added that the seizure became particularly symbolic putting into consideration “the dubious ingenuity of the smugglers to the extent that they could contemplate that mode of concealment”.

He said: “From the look of things, it is certain that our aggressive patrol activities along the flanks and flashpoints have turned on serious heat on the smugglers, thereby forcing them in their desperation to look for alternative means of smuggling.

“Unfortunately, we are totally determined and committed to this assignment irrespective of whatever their antics might be,” he said
The Controller promised to sustain the tempo as he acknowledged the effort of the NCS Management in providing logistic support in terms of functional patrol vehicles, arms/ammunition, training and re-training of officers amongst others.

He pointed out that the unit would continue to play its leading role as the hub and flagship of anti-smuggling, “having fine-tuned its operational methodologies to align with the change mantra of the Federal Government”.

He said Customs have the capacity, competence and the requisite ability to combat smuggling irrespective of the hostile tendency of smugglers.

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