Customs seize 269 baskets of fresh tomatoes, pepper from Benin Republic

THE Seme Customs Command of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) on Monday declared that its officers collected N40m in the last two weeks of August 2019. This is even as it revealed that its officers seized 269 baskets of fresh tomatoes, fresh pepper and sacks of Cucumber all imported from the Benin Republic.

According to the Customs Area Controller of Seme Area Command, Comptroller Mohammed Uba Garba, among the seizures made include 875x50bags of foreign parboiled rice with DPV of N15,023,750; 12x25litres of vegetable oil with DPV of N131,625.90; 6x50kg of refined sugar with DPV of N147,640.50; 535 bales of used clothes with DPV of N17,259,769; 20 parcels of cannabis Sativa with street value worth of N516,180.

Also seized are 269 baskets of fresh tomatoes; One basket of fresh peppers; Seven sacks of cucumber and pineapples; and 16 baskets of fresh okro (all perishable products coming from Benin Rep. which were earnestly auctioned off) with DPV of N367,471;

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16 sacks of used shoes, belt and ladies bag with DPV of N541,989; 57 pieces of textile wrappers with DPV of N367,778;
65 cartons of poultry products with DPV of N948,333.75; 137×25 liter jerry cans of PMS with DPV of N287,700; 16 buckets of car paint with DPV of N144,530.40; 11 cartons of Galvanized nails with DPV of N99,364.65; 2,566 pieces of currency (in coins) and other foreign currencies; Seven cartons of condensed milk with DPV of N78,534.75; Four cartons of spaghetti noodles with DPV of N15,678.97; Two cartons of tinned tomato with DPV of N14,589; Two sacks of coconuts with DPV of N38,714;

Four cartons of body cream, One bag of detergent soap with DPV of N58,913; 20 pieces of sandpaper with DPV of N12,778.50; Four television sets; Two pieces of television stands with DPV of N187,115.25; Four cartons of fuel filter with DPV of N11,669; One carton of motor spare parts with DPV of N134,631; and One pieces of gas burner with DPV of N2,137.

He explained further that one of the vehicles used for conveying the contrabanded goods is a Toyota Hiace bus (worth N2,907,450) of G- Express Company (with registration number ENU 962 ZK), believed to be coming from Ghana. Upon careful examination at the baggage inward hall, it was discovered to contain five parcels of items suspected to be cannabis Sativa concealed in the bus. Consequently, the bus driver, busboy and the cargo handler were all promptly arrested and detained.

The command in the spirit of inter-agency cooperation and synergy handed over the said items and the suspects to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for further prosecution.