The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ said it recorded 79 seizures of smuggled items with a total duty paid value of N1.02 billion within the border corridors of the Southwest zone in May 2023.

Speaking to journalists at the government warehouse in Ikeja, the acting Controller of the unit, Hussein Ejibunu, said the seizures are products of surveillance, intelligence gathering and regular patrols that contravened various sections of Customs laws and policy directives.

He also added that some of the items were intercepted for violating the guidelines on the importation/exportation of goods, concealment, undervaluation, wrong classification and smuggling.

The items include 6,861 X 50 kilogramme bags of foreign parboiled rice equivalent to 12 trailer loads, 1,236 jerry cans X 25 litres (30,900 litres) of petroleum, 9,857 parcels (5,338 kilogramme) of cannabis sativa, 2 X 20 of unprocessed wood, four units of used vehicles (Tokunbo), 40 X 5 jerry cans of vegetable oil and 54 bales of second-hand clothing.

Ejibunu said four suspects were arrested in connection with some of the intercepted goods, adding that for the ongoing prosecution of suspects, the Federal High Court at Abeokuta, Ogun State, sentenced Musa Oloyede, Fishing Godwin David and Adeniyi Alaye, to two years imprisonment for assaulting customs officers, while carrying out their statutory duties.

“Consequent to the social effect of cannabis sativa on the youths, it becomes very worrisome that a total of 9,857 parcels were seized in a single swoop, which were brought from Ghana into Nigeria through the creeks in Lagos. Crime experts have found a direct relationship between the intake of this controlled plant and violent crimes.

“We are conscious of this challenge and will continually cut the supply chain of illicit drugs and other prohibited substances,” he stated.

Speaking on revenue, the controller said the unit generated N38.3 million through conscious and thorough documentary checks, followed by the issuance of demand notices on consignments that were found to have paid lesser amounts than the appropriate customs duty.

He urged the public to promptly share useful information with Customs operatives that will assist to checkmate the menace of smuggling, which is a crime that deals in illegal trade, such as illicit drugs and prohibited weapons.

Ejibunu further called on the public to see insecurity and other crimes as products of smuggling, while considering perpetrators as common enemies of the land that must be jointly fought by all citizens.