No fewer than nine persons have been arrested by Katsina- Kaduna Area Customs Command, even as the operatives recorded very high seizures in the past two weeks.
The customs area Controller, deputy Comptroller Dahiru Abdullahi Kirawa, who made this known to newsmen in Katsina yesterday, said that the customs intercepted eight second hand cars, aside the vehicles used in conveying contrabands, with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of about N62 million.
Other seizures, according to him, included 1,365 bags of foreign rice, 295 jerry cans of vegetable oil, 295 bales of second hand clothing, 25 bales of new textile materials, 53 bags of sugar and 14 cartons of Tiger head batteries.
Kirarwa equally noted that a tanker conveying 33,000 litres of PMS at a village in Katsina, just about 13km to Nigeria -Niger Republic borders and the driver of the truck, meant for a filing station in Jigawa State were arrested by the customs, adding that the offence is a clear case of diversion and violation of the ban on sale of petrol within 20 km to the nation’s border.
The customs area Controller, who attributed the feat to new credible intelligence at the disposal of his operatives, also commended the synergy and collaboration between the customs and security agencies in addition to the cooperation of the different layers of defense built by the agency against smuggling activities.
He appealed to all stakeholders to continue to avail customs with credible information to record more successes.
Reacting to the high of seizures of second hand clothes and shoes this month, he said that suspected smugglers were desperate to bring in the clothes in view of the fast approaching harmattan period.
