ABUJA: The Comptroller of Customs, Federal Operations Unit, (FOU) Zone C’ Owerri, Controller Amajam Bukar Alhaji, Tuesday supervised the destruction of 4118 cartons of poultry products with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N83,389,500. He warned against the consumption of imported frozen chicken, adding that the chemicals used as preservatives could be harmful to health. Narrating how the 1×40 container conveying the contraband was intercepted, during the destruction exercise that was witnessed by other security agencies including the DSS, Police, National Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and officials of the National Agency for Food Administration (NAFDAC), Amajam, disclosed that it took the collaboration of the Army and NAFDAC to impound the truck.
According to him, “we virtually paid to get intelligence on the movement of the consignment after we learnt that they were loading the truck at Ore. We kept our surveillance until the truck entered into Owerri and when they noticed that they were being followed, they drove to the stadium, where they parked the truck and deflated the tires to make it impossible to drive it away. At that point we called the Army and Police for backup before we were able to impound the truck and brought it to our headquarter”. Speaking further on the dangers of consuming imported frozen poultry products, the Customs boss, maintained that, “Nigerians do not know the type of chemicals used for the preservation of the chicken. The chemicals are dangerous to health so consuming the products is a serious health hazard that should be avoided” In a related development FOU Zone C also impounded Contraband with a DPV of N261 million.
Amajam while parading the seized items, gave the breakdown as follows, 1591 used tires with Duty Paid Value of N14,378,400, 3889 bags of rice with duty Paid Value of N101,478,000, 380 cartons of soap with duty paid value of N10,093,009, 1x40ft container intercepted along Aba/Eleme containing assorted goods including 6600 pieces of sewing machine, 3080 sewing machine motor, 47 pieces of empty gas cylinder, 19 pieces of gas stove, 9900 packets of measuring tape, 1080 bundles of PVC package, 320 scissors amongst other items with a DPV of N111,572,300 and one Nissan Almera with DPV of 4,725,000.
Other seizures that’s were still being investigated include, “a container of 1401 rolls of fabric with Duty Paid Value of N14,100,000, a 2016 Toyota Prado Jeep with Duty Paid Value of N25,658,201, 2013 Toyota Prado Jeep with Duty Paid Value of N17,349,647, 2011 Toyota Prado Jeep with Duty Paid Value of N74,250,000, 2010 Mercedes Benz G-Wagon Bullet Proof with Duty Paid Value of N74,250,000, 2008 Mercedes Benz G-Wagon with Duty Paid Value of N18,528,750 and 2016 Range Rover with duty paid value of N28,049,645”. The Customs boss, explained that the commodities seized contravened of the law with some of the infractions bordering on false declarations and deliberate attempts to evade duty payment. He said, “we cannot ease business if there is fraudulent declaration. In an honest society where honest declaration is done then the ease of doing business will be achieved.”
