N200m Contrabands Intercepted by Customs Zone “D”

In just two months, the Federal Operations Unit of the Nigeria Customs Service in Zone D, Bauchi, has recovered illegal goods worth more than N200 million.

The illegal items recovered include 250 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 487 bags of urea fertilizer, 542 bags of 50 kilograms of foreign parboiled rice, and four sacks carrying 165 kilograms of pangolin shells. 191 bales of used clothing, 110 Jerrycans of gasoline, 70 cartons of foreign soap, and 32 Jerrycans of 25-liter kerosene are some further items. Additional goods include 10 sacks of dried donkey skins and 130 jerry cans holding 20 liters of engine oil.

Seven vehicles of various brands that were being used to transport the forbidden materials were also seized by the service’s agents, according to a statement released by the public relations officer, NCS, FOU, Bauchi, Umar Abdullahi and made accessible to journalists in Bauchi yesterday.

“The Customs operatives’ actions are in accordance with Sections 8 and 158 (Power to Patrol Freely) of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), Cap C45 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, as amended,” stated Umar.

“The exchange of information, intelligence collecting, and tenacity of the officers and men of the federal Operations Unit Zone D in making the zone intolerable resulted in the extraordinary seizures within this short period of time,”

“Let me take this opportunity to ask well-meaning Nigerians to help in providing accurate information that could aid in eradicating the issue of smuggling in the region and the country at large. They must be aware that stopping smuggling will improve the economy and enable the federal government to deliver social services to the populace.

The Comptroller, Musa Ibrahim Jalo, of the Nigeria Customs Service’s Zone “D,” who is able to oversee the unit’s Federal Operations Unit, also issued a warning to smugglers, saying that his team “would not relent in its efforts to cleanse the zone of smugglers.”