Customs intercept N379m worth of Indian Hemp in Osun, Oyo

OPERATIVES of the Federal Operations Unit, Zone A of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) on Tuesday revealed that its men intercepted 3 kilograms of Indian Hemp worth N379, 200, 000 along the Oyo/Osun border area between August 17th to December 10th, 2018. This is even as the Unit revealed that it intercepted various contrabands with a duty paid value (DPV) of N5.1billion also in the period under review.

Disclosing this to journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, the Customs Area Comptroller of the Unit, Mohammed Aliyu disclosed that the drive and desire to compliment the Comptroller General’s Policy of entrenching transparency and integrity while enforcing the core mandate of the Service is the determining factor for his uncompromising stand to succeed at all cost.

The Comptroller stated that being the head of the second layers of defense (FOU) in enforcing the role of the Service and complementing the activities of the Area Commands, the resolute stand of the Unit occasioned by the aggressive enforcement of the Federal Government policy across the border Commands is a task that must be accomplished and cannot be overemphasised.

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“For the period under review, the breakdown of the seizures recorded with their appropriate Duty Paid Values (DPV) from August 17 to December 10, 2018, accumulated to N5.1billion. The seized items include: 24 unit of seized vehicles and 34 exotic vehicles worth N784, 411,452 on detention; 39,664 bags of foreign parboiled rice (equivalent of 66 trailers) worth N525, 639,228; 3,252 frozen poultry products; 2,887 jerry-cans of vegetable oil worth N31, 179,600; 3,792 parcels of Indian Hemp worth N379,200,000; 5x20ft containers of unprocessed wood worth N30,000,000; 2,520 bales of used clothing worth N30,240,000; 710 cartons of Tramadol worth N808,000,000 among others,” Controller Mohammed Aliyu stated.

The Comptroller used the opportunity to appeal to both print and electronic media to help in passing across information on the dangers inherent in such dangerous import, lamenting the dire consequences of illicit substance intercepted, apart from the series of the successive Tramadol drug seizures made at different Ports in recent times.

As an enforcement Unit of the Service, the Federal Operations Unit will not rest on its oars until there is total compliance that will translate to effective revenue generation, suppression of smuggling, facilitation of legitimate trade and protection of our national security. We are determined to stem the tide against those who have decided to be non-conformist to the legitimate process of importation and exportation clearance processes,” the Customs Comptroller added.