Operatives of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Federal Operations Unit Zone A, have arrested 103 suspects in connection with tankers loaded with 265,830 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and 45,928 bags of foreign parboiled rice equivalent to 77 trailer loads, worth N7 billion between January and June 2022.
         
The Acting Comptroller of the unit, Hussein Ejibunu, who disclosed this yesterday to newsmen at Ikeja, Lagos, said the tankers, which were also loaded with different petroleum products were intercepted at different points across the South West, which were on their way to being smuggled out of the country.
       
He said other items seized within the period under review include 2,933 bales of used clothes, 233 cartons of tramadol (225mg each) and 83 packs of 225mg, 65 units of used vehicles, 14,784 pieces of used tyres, 119 units of used motorcycles and 3,659.05 kg of Indian hemp.
         
Ejibunu said the successes recorded in the anti-smuggling drives are products of sustained vigilance and intelligence deployment within the ports and border corridors.
         
He noted that the unit also collected N577 million as revenue derived from underpayments.
       
He reminded the business community that although some of the land borders are reopened, it is only for legitimate businesses. 
        
Ejibunu said the unit shall continue to facilitate legitimate trade and help compliant traders to grow the local economy while sustaining deliberate efforts aimed at frustrating recalcitrant traders as seen in the volume of seizures displayed.
        
He, however, enjoined importers, agents and the general public to be acquainted with the federal government’s fiscal policies, Customs extant regulations as well as the import and export prohibition lists for proper guidance.