ABUJA: The Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘C’, Owerri, Imo State, says it seized 48 contrabands with a Duty Paid Value of N197.38m in July, 2015.
The Unit Area Comptroller, Mr. David Dimka, said 30 suspects were also arrested in connection with smuggling on the Benin-Asaba Expressway, Owerri-Port-Harcourt Road and the Enugu area.
He said 20 cases were pending in court in respect of the seizures.
Dimka stated that apart from the 48 seizures, an under-payment of N24.25m was also discovered.
He said, “A breakdown shows that 69 bales of second hand clothes, 39 vehicles, 244 pairs of used foot wears and 60 bags of rice were seized.
He expressed displeasures at the increased number of exotic vehicle seized by the unit on regular basis.
The comptroller advised members of the public, who wished to purchase vehicles, to go through the official channel.
He further warned that all illegally imported goods would be impounded, adding that ignorance of the law was not an excuse.
He said, “NCS would not succumb to senseless and irrational pleadings for leniency by individuals caught in the act of smuggling.”
Dimka also decried the upsurge of smuggling of goods in the country, in spite of stiff penalties for culprits, adding that the harm the “obnoxious” act caused to the nation’s economy was better imagined than expressed.
He said NCS was now better equipped to tackle smuggling and advised Nigerians to purge themselves of get-rich-quick syndrome.
He commended some members of the public for their courage and patriotism in supplying the unit with relevant information on smuggling and assured that such classified information would never be disclosed.
