Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit Zone A, have intercepted over 1000 bags of foreign parboiled rice smuggled into the country through the Benin Republic border.
The Acting Comptroller of the Unit, Hussein Ejibunu, stated this during a briefing on Thursday.
Ejibunu said the rice with label production from India came in through the Benin land border.
According to him, before further action, the consumables are tested by the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
He said it was in the process that it was confirmed that the rice contained lead which he said is poisonous to human health.
He said: “after seizing the smuggled rice, we called NAFDAC to conduct laboratory analysis it was gathered that the rice named SIMBA which consists of Led substances that is poisonous to the body was produced in India”.
Mister Ejibunu Further warned Nigerians to desist from buying any imported rice, saying “no smuggled items will escape through the borders in the southwest under my watch”.