The Adamawa and Taraba Commands of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has reported that15 seizures were made from the beginning of last month till date. They include the seizures of various illicit products amounting to N13,352,100 in duty-paid value.
According to Salisu Kazaure Abdullahi, the Adamawa/Taraba Area Controller of the NCS, the seized commodities include 16,675 litres of petrol packaged in 643 x 25L Jerry cans and three × 200L drums, 20×50kg bags of imported parboiled rice, and a used V/Wagon Golf with a reconstructed fuel tank.
This is as a result of high fuel demand and high prices in neighbouring countries like Cameroon, Togo, and the Benin Republic, the area Customs controller explained. He claims that gasoline smuggling syndicates are obstinate and have huge resources and that because they profit so much from smuggling the goods out of the nation, they work tirelessly to keep the illegal operation going.
He stressed, however, that the NCS is constantly assessing its policies and cracking down on smugglers. We want to unequivocally tell the smugglers that the more they change tactics, the more we change our own and the truth will always prevail over falsehood, he said.
