CUSTOMS: The Nigerian Customs Service has disclosed that its “Operation Hawk Descend” aimed at checking the activities of smugglers, has recorded seizures worth N21,832 billion in the second week of its operation.
The operation was inaugurated in the South-Western flank of Nigeria borders to enforce the ban on imported frozen poultry products.
A statement from the Customs service at the weekend said the seizures which consist of 6,206 cartons of the banned products, were recorded at villages around the borders in Idiroko, Badagry Creeks, Badagry Water ways, and Agbara in Lagos and Ogun States.
According to the statement, the seizures consist of the following:. a Federal Operations Unit – 1,636 cartons while 318 cartons were recovered at the Seme Command.
In Ogun Command – 3,150 cartons were impounded while the exercise at Western Marine Command fetched 1,102 cartons giving a total of 6,206 cartons as recovered contrabands.
Reacting to media reports indicating a surge in the price of frozen poultry products in the local markets, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Dikko Inde Abdullahi commended his patrol teams for making life difficult for smugglers and their customers. He however maintained that higher cost of the product was not the intended objective of the operation.
“Our objective is to make the product unattractive to Nigerian consumers, turn it to a high risk product for smugglers and eventually cut off its supplies to our markets”, he said.
The Comptroller-General advised cold room operators who stock smuggled frozen chicken to embrace other legitimate business before Customs operatives swoop on them.
Meanwhile, operation Hawk Descend received a boost with the support of Customs Administration of Benin Republic. Indication on this emerged recently in Abuja during a bilateral meeting between the Comptroller-General and Charles Sezan, the Director-General of Benin Customs Administration, to review joint border operations between the two countries. The Director-General shared Nigeria position that smuggled frozen poultry products represented a drain on the economy of both countries.
