Khadijat saidu, Birnin Kebbi
Nigeria Customs Service, Kebbi State command has seized goods worth over 133mllions of naira from smugglers.
Briefing journalists at the command headquarters, the State Controller of Custom, Hafiz Kalla said the seizures were made from January to date through the borders in the state.
Hafiz explain that on 27th of July while on routine surveillance, officers and men of Kebbi Area Command in collaboration with the Customs Police Unit intercepted a tanker with Reg. No; KUR 152 XA loaded with 60,000litres of PMS (premium motor spirit) petroleum along Tsamiya / Illo road in Bagudo Local Government.
The driver could not tender relevant documents to convince officers of their destination hence they were brought to the office for further investigation. Hence in the spirit of interagency collaboration, the matter will now be handed over to the NNPC led Operation white created by the Presidency to curtail PMS diversion in order to conduct their investigation about the point of loading and the destination.
He added that the command has made 124 seizures of assorted items which include: -2,279 Bags of 50kg of foreign rice, 454 Packages of Indian hemp 1,008 Bags of 50kg of foreign fertilizers,157 bales of second hand clothing and new textile materials, 12 units of used vehicles and another perishable.
The duty paid value of the items stands at N133, 117,568 (One Hundred and Thirty-Three Million, One hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Five Hundred and Sixty-Eight Naira). while in the revenue.
He said the Command was able to generate over 5 million naira as fees from the auction sales of perishable and inflammable items as the borders under Kebbi Area command still remain closed, therefore assure that the command will continue to keep vigilant to suppress the cancer of smuggling in the country.
