[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service said it generated the sum of Two billion, Six Hundred and Twenty Seven Million, One Hundred and Forty Nine Thousand, One Hundred Naira Twenty One Kobo Only (N2,627,149,100.21) from March to June, 2019.The command also seized 175 pieces of textiles materials worth N2.2 million smuggled into the country from Benin Republic.
The Command through intelligence swiftly made some other seizures which include the following items:
1. 8,304 bags of 50kg foreign rice over 14 Trailer trucks
2. 55 parcels of same cannabis sativa concealed in a Sienna bus
3. 31 X 25litres Jerry Cans of vegetable oil
4. 35 X 50kg Bags of sugar
5. 138 x 25litres of PMS
6. 71 Cartons of Expired Food Seasoning
7. 336 Cartons of alcoholic drinks
8. A truck loaded with 493 packs of Baby Diapers
9. Eleven (13) vehicles (Toyota Highlander 2005, Range Rover 2007, Toyota Rav 4 2006, Toyota Venza 2010) among others, with DPV of N200,093,114.00.
According to the Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Mohammed Uba Garba, six (6) suspects were arrested during the period under review. He further re-emphasized the command’s determination to detect, arrest and prosecute those who fail to comply with the extant regulations; as their failure will be a cause for regret. Compt. Uba frowned at the nefarious activities of smugglers, saying all hands must be on deck to curb the menace. He called on patriotic citizens to support the command by reporting any smuggling activity or any relevant information that will assist the Command in discharging its statutory obligations.
He added that the command aims at assessing modern communication tools to improve cross border efficiency along the corridor in facilitating border crossing for the promotion of regional integration towards simplification, standardization and harmonization of border crossing procedures thus achieving the core mandate of the service.
He finally commended the intensified efforts of the officers and men of the command towards these achievements and implored them to put more efforts in reducing smuggling to its barest minimum.