Customs Seizes N97m Contraband Goods

Goods worth N97 million were seized by Zone A of the Federal
Operations Unit (FOU) of the Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS), Lagos in July, an
official said.

Mr Uche Ejesieme, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the
command, said that 256 goods were confiscated in July compared with 267 seized
in June.

According to Ejesieme, in spite of the seizures, the command
has also witnessed some level of compliance.

“The difference is attributable to the level of compliance,
which is at the base of our core function.

“This in turn will have the tendency of affecting very
positively the revenue profile of the command in Lagos Zone.

“Since the resumption of office of Comptroller Dan Ugo, the
unit has employed scientific methodologies of tracking smugglers.

“With the result it is very clear that if you go to border
stations you will look at their chart. You will discover that they had a kind
of jumbo profile in the sense that there is serious increase in their revenues
in the commands.

“This as a result of the strategies they put in place,”
Ejieseme said.

He said that 25 cartoons of poultry products worth N25
million were seized from 15 suspected smugglers in July.

The PRO said that the command under its zero tolerant
anti-smuggling campaign had spread its drag-net to some areas in its area of
jurisdiction.

Ejieseme said that the zero tolerance among others focused
on the illegal importation of poultry products and all forms of contraband.