In one fell swoop, the Federal Operations Unit Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), on Tuesday, revealed that it seized 445 bags of rice smuggled into the country from Benin Republic at Ijoun town in Ogun State.
Addressing journalists during a media briefing, the Customs Area Controller of the Unit, Controller Kola Oladeji, explained that the vehicle bringing in the rice broke down, hence his officers were to detect the contraband and make the seizure.
According to Controller Oladeji, the terrain the smugglers took was difficult, but the Customs officers were able to evacuate the whole items smuggled into the country.
“This seizure today was a result of the intelligence we received that some unscrupulous elements are planning to smuggle some prohibited items into the country from the Benin Republic. As you are all aware, it hit us early this morning when our intelligence was able to translate to the arrest of these bags of rice that you can see. It was a tough load, but we were lucky. The terrain it took was difficult, but we were able to evacuate them,” he stated.
According to the Customs boss, there wasn’t any casualty from the side of smugglers or officers of the unit during the encounter.
“We always observe our rules of engagement, especially when it comes to confrontation with the border communities. We value their lives. We don’t like inflicting any injury on anybody, because they are Nigerians. And that’s why we have to leave some of them.
“As they were running away with some, we evacuated this particular quantity. We are still pursuing others. They may think they can have their way of bringing in anything they like, but we will always disappoint them.
“By the spirit and grace of God, we will invite you for our comprehensive press briefing in a couple of days where we will showcase all our activities and weekly reports under our Operation Swift String. This is the basic reason why I brought you here today.
“I want to thank our Comptroller-General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, who has been up and doing, providing essential logistics for us to thrive. What if we don’t have the logistics, We can’t be achieving all this.
“If we are talking of mobility, we are very good. If we are talking about healthcare, we are okay. We are happy to do what we are doing. You will see that we are not looking as if we are fasting. And most of us are fasting,” he added.
