By Tina George, Minna
The Niger/Kogi Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service on Wednesday, intercepted a truck loaded with 292 bags of 50kg imported rice worth ₦4.9 million concealed in husks of sugarcane.
The seizure was made along the Dikko-Suleja-Abuja road in Niger state by an anti-smuggling patrol team led by ASC I Mohammed Bature.
The Public Relations Officer of the Niger/Kogi Area Command, Lomba Benjamin said that the truck is a 14 tyre Iveco truck with two different registration plate numbers XD 146 LSD (in front) and XD 146 SLD (behind).
Lomba disclosed that the month of October was a month of seizures while stating the resolve of the Command at bringing down the incidence of smuggling to the barest minimum.
He said that in October, 1,481 50kg bags of imported foreign rice with DPV of N25,177,000, Five vehicles with DPV of N14,337,000 and Nine bales of Second-hand clothing with DPV of N720,000.
He said, “It is unfortunate that despite the considerable quantity of rice and vehicular seizures in this Command in the past, some saboteurs have continued to engage in the unpatriotic act of smuggling.
“We have continued to record victory over these recalcitrant saboteurs, which represents a huge loss on the part of these elements despite the fact of a jail term that awaits any of them who will be arrested as a result of our long drawn investigative net.
“We shall continue to blaze the trail in anti-smuggling activities through the deployment of intelligence gathering and collaboration/synergy with other critical stakeholders for the actualization of our statutory mandate.”
