ABUJA: 1,333 bags of 50kg foreign rice with Duty Paid Value of N38,390,000 has been seized by the Federal Operations Unit, Zone C of the Nigeria Customs Service, Owerri. Speaking to journalists at NCS Imo/Abia Command in Owerri, Imo State, the Customs Area Comptroller, Bukar Amajam, stated that out of the 1,333 bags of rice, 530 were craftily loaded in a truck and packaged as bags of cement to deceive the customs men. He said the bags of rice would be distributed to internally displaced persons across the country as directed by the Presidency.
Another seized contraband was one truckload of a container carrying lien, which was falsely declared as binding tape, instead of fabric tape by the smugglers. He said, “They craftily did it to evade payment of the officially required and approved N1.5m duty on the goods. “There was a 1×40-f00t container load of brand new washing machines, which was also falsely declared as used ones.”
