Customs Intercepts N7.5bn Contraband In Owerri

The Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone C of the Nigeria Customs Service, on Friday, said that it seized contrabands worth N7.5 billion between January 25th, 2023 and April 19th, 2024.
Moreso, the newly appointed FOU C Controller, Compt. Ugbagu, pledged crackdown on smugglers through continued compliance with established guidelines laid down by Compt. Kolade, while discharging his duties.

LEADERSHIP reports that the seizures intercepted in the last 15 months by the CAC are, 31 cartons of Cough syrup with Codeine worth N21.6 million; 52 units of foreign used vehicles including three armoured vehicles worth N4.27 billion; nine sacks of 50kg of explosive materials /super power 90 substance/ cables worth N12.9 million; used clothing and shoes worth N451.7 million and N4.8 million respectively.

Others are unregistered/ expired medicaments, 955 cartons of expired/ various brand including tramadol N239 million; used pneumatic tyres 6,457 pieces N96.85 million; 364 cartons of foreign spaghetti worth N7.28 million; 4,693 cartons of foreign tomato paste worth N234.6 million; 80 Jerrycans of 25kg of vegetable oil worth N600,000; 1,329 cartons of Eva soap worth N33.25 million and 32 Jerrycans of 25 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), worth N468 million.

The outgone controller, Compt. Kayode Kolade, who disclosed this in a farewell message while handing over to his successor and new Comptroller of the Unit, Michael Ugbagu, appreciated the Comptroller-General of Customs; Adewale Adeniyi, MFR and his entire management team, for the trust and confidence bestowed on him to serve as Comptroller FOU C and for replacing with Ugbagu, “a thorough enforcement guru.

He also applauded officers of the unit for their unparalleled support, commitment, dedication, handwork and prayers, adding that their support was the reason for his successes.

“I am grateful to the Comptroller-General of Customs; Adewale Adeniyi, MFR and his entire management team, for the trust and confidence bestowed on me from January 25th 2023 to April 19th 2024 as I handover the affairs of this unit to another amiable Comptroller Michael Ugbagu, who is also a thorough enforcement guru”.

“With all your support and cooperation, the Unit within my tenure was able to make substantial and spectacular seizures ; totaling 198 seizures with a duty paid value of N7.5 billion derived from five sacks of Pangolin scales weighing 413.1kg worth N523,356,390; 1,813 bags of 50KG each of

foreign parboiled rice worth N105, 105,000.00; 815 sacks of Cannabis Sativa weighing 17,950KG and 2,935 parcels (1KG EACH) weighing 2,935kg (totaling 20,885KG) worth N1.67 billion.

He added that although FOU C is not a revenue-generating unit, under his watch and based on interventions to checkmate the activities of fraudulent agents at the seaports, lots of lost revenues were recovered to the tune of N155.8 million within his 15 months in office.

Meanwhile, the newly deployed Controller, Compt. Ugbagu, appreciated the Comptroller-General of Customs; Adewale Adeniyi, and his entire management team, for the trust and confidence bestowed on him to pilot the affairs of the Unit.

“We will ensure compliance with the current import and export guidelines using intelligence and technology to drive our operations. There will be a watertight security against smuggling activities across the zone. Smugglers will be discouraged, frustrated and made uncomfortable, thereby making smuggling, duty evasion and warehousing of smuggled goods unattractive within the zone. This is an onerous responsibility and I will not let the Service down,” he said.