ABUJA: Authorities of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in charge of the Federal Operation Unit (FOU) Zone A, Ikeja, Lagos, has alerted the public on the use of local trains for smuggling contraband goods into the country’s major cities.
The alert is sequel to the recent seizure of contraband goods worth N105.3 million by the Headquarters Monitoring Team, Idi-Iroko axis, led by Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Yahaya Usman Biri.
The Customs Controller, FOU Zone A, Ikeja, Usman Adamu, said on Monday, April 20, 2015, while acting on a tip off, the Headquarters Monitoring Team intercepted a Lagos-bound train from Kano, suspected to have been hijacked by criminals at the Abeokuta railway station.
He said a discreet search of the train revealed assorted bales of textile materials and other goods carefully concealed in two coaches.
He added that the team had been on the trail of the consignment which they believed may have come in from unapproved routes.
Although investigation into the source of the contraband goods is still ongoing, a source said the items recovered from the two coaches included 1.27 bales of blanket, 141 long bales of Ankara materials, 49 cartons of choc balls, two gallons of vegetable oil, four bags of 40kg parboiled rice, three small sacks of printed textile materials, one carton of bonny full cream milk, one sack of detergent, and 159 small sacks of textile materials.
