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| Nigeria Customs. File photo |
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), through its Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A, Ikeja, said it has seized goods valued about N2 billion in the last six weeks.
Its Controller, Aliyu Mohammed, who spoke to reporters in Lagos yesterday, said the seizures were made between February 6 and April 16 this year.
The seizures include 113 units of exotic vehicles with duty paid value of N1,339,088,544 and other seizures valued at N610,470,320.
Among the seizures were various smuggled and prohibited drugs without National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) number.
He reiterated the Unitโs resolve to sustain the fight against illicit drug smuggling as a way of justifying recent World Customs Organisation (WCO) and NAFDAC Awards for his contributions to the fight against drug smuggling.
โI am ready to do more in the fight against fake and unregistered drugs. The award given to me is serving as a motivation to continue in stopping the illegality of drug smuggling.
โSome of the smuggled drugs concealed with other goods do not have NAFDAC number and they are capable of destroying lives.
โOur duty as Customs officers is not only to collect revenue and facilitate trade, we are working to save lives too. Those who are complaining about our presence on the roads are not sincere in their dealings.
โWe make these seizures daily and we rely on intelligence to uncover what smugglers are hiding. On the allegations of harassment of smugglers by customs officers, our men work with information and endeavour not to inconvenience travelers while performing our duty.
โOur warehouse is filled with rice seizures and more are being seized. We encourage Nigerians to patronise our high quality locally grown rice,โ he said.
The seized drugs are codeine syrup, diclofenac, paracetamol injection and Chest and Lung tablets
Other seizures shown to journalists are trucks of rice valued at N190,961,320; 180 Jerry cans of 25 litre vegetable oil worth N1,440,000; 157 bales of used clothes valued at N9,420,000; frozen poultry products worth N1,400,000 and 265 pieces of used tyres worth N1,855,000.
Also seized are 280 pieces of machetes and tomato paste worth N462,000 and N62,000 respectively.
