Smugglers have now devised a new method by using cows to smuggle contraband foreign rice into the country through porous borders as Kano/Jigawa Command of the Nigeria Customs on Monday paraded two cows, 27 vehicles, nine motor cycles and one tricycle used in smuggling various types of contraband consignments worth over N76 million.
According to the Comptroller of Kano/Jigawa Customs Command, Nasir Ahmed, who briefed Reporters at the Kano headquarters, he said the Command between November 1 and 26, impounded 3079 of rice, 770 cartons of spaghetti, 17 bales of second hand clothes, 40 bags of foreign sugar and 101 jerry cans of foreign vegetable oil with duty paid value of N76 million.
Ahmed said one suspect was arrested, adding that youths in the border town of Babura in Jigawa state have now indulged in using motorcycles to aide smugglers to ferry their smuggled goods through the bush paths.
He, however, appealed to parents and traditional rulers in the community to warn their wards to desist from aiding and abating smuggling activities, adding that, “anyone caught by the anti-smuggling squad of the Customs risk being arrested and prosecuted.”
He added that, “today we are here to show you the number of seizures we have made from the November 1 to November 26. This is made in consonance with the fact that the basic things we are supposed to do as Customs officers is to stop smuggling, we are here to facilitate trade and generate revenue.
“These seizures are made possible with the assistant of the communities, the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU), my officers on the patrol and the realization that we don’t have another country rather than Nigeria.
“The only way we can do this is to stop smuggling of rice because a nation that is not sufficient in food cannot be said to be a nation. This is President Muhammadu Buhari is talking on food security. We cannot have food security when we want to engage in smuggling.
“We tell the smugglers to try another business because we are here. We are not going away. We are not slowing down for them, we will always get them. Like I said before, we are not going to back down.”