The Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘C’ Owerri has intercepted tramadol, Indian hemp and other contraband goods with a duty paid value (DPV) of Ninety Nine Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira, only (N99,820,000,00) from April-June 2021.
In a statement made available to our correspondent in Enugu through the public relations officer, Jerry Attah, the Controller FOU Zone ‘C’, Comptroller Yusuf Lawal disclosed that the seizures followed the strengthening of the service’s anti-smuggling operations within the zone comprising southeast and southsouth.
According to the controller, in the months under review, five suspects were arrested in connection to the seizures which include: 45 rolls containing 4,500 sachets of 225mg of royal brand of tramadol, 210 bags of 50kg foreign parboiled rice and 18 parcels of Indian Hemp.
Others are 19, 725 sachets of dizapam tablet, 98 bales of used clothing, 220 cartons of foreign tomatoes paste, 12 cartons of foreign Johnson soap, 240 pieces of used tyres, 668 pairs of used shoes, among others mostly intercepted along Okada-Benin/Lagos Expressway.
Comptroller Lawal, who reiterated that even though smuggling is a global phenomenon that cannot be eradicated entirely, invited all hands to be on deck so that it could be reduced to its barest minimum.
He commended the resilience and doggedness of his officers and men that brought about this result noting that only God knows what would have happened if the tramadol got to the wrong hand at this trying moment as the negative consequences could not be over-emphasized.
The comptroller opined that the feat could not have been possible without the logistics support of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) and the entire management, as well as the media for your partnership in sensitizing and educating the general public on the evil of smuggling to the nations economy which has led to drastic reduction of smuggling within the zone.
He further thanked sister agencies that were always on ground to give them the necessary operational support, most especially the Nigeria Army, Police, DSS among others and look forward to sustaining such relationship that would yield better performance in the remaining half of the year.
Comptroller Lawal while urging his officers/men to always ensure professionalism and be diligent in performing their statutory responsibilities, charged them to sustain the anti-smuggling operations by making sure all revenue leakages were blocked and encouraged them to keep thwarting the antics of those dare devil smugglers who used different methods of concealment for smuggling.
