Customs intercepts 81,425 litres of smuggled PMS in Badagry

Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A, have seized 81, 425 litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) from smugglers in Badagry, Lagos State.

The acting controller of the unit, Hussein Ejibunu, who briefed reporters on the seizures, which were packed in jerrycans and sacks, said suspected smugglers using Dane guns shot at customs officers who made the seizures during an all-night operation.

He said the seizures were the results of painstaking intelligence and perseverance on the part of the FOU officers who are committed to protecting the national economy.

Ejibunu described perpetrators of trans border fuel smuggling as saboteurs that must be stopped as they do not mean well for the country.

He decried a situation where the Federal Government spends huge amounts of money to subsidise fuel for citizens’ benefit, only for a few persons to smuggle the subsidised fuel out of the country for selfish gains.

According to him, the unit had been monitoring the smugglers since last week, following information that some people were using sacks to smuggle petroleum products out of Nigeria.

“ They used drum like the ones we intercepted a few days ago from Ayegun border, where they brought in about 60 drums containing PMS about to be moved from Nigeria and hid them in a bush. It was where they went to secure trucks that we swooped on them.

“The only difference in this new one is that they used sacks to conceal the product and put them close to a creek, from where they will be ferried out.

“When my men got there, they were shot at with dane guns. The smugglers fired a few times and ran away, and since it was their terrain, they knew all the nooks and crannies to use for escape. We took possession because I moved in with 18 Hilux vehicles loaded with officers who were armed to the teeth. I was ready and knew what could come up,” he narrated.