ABUJA: As part of efforts to ensure that the ban on the importation of poultry products yields the desired outcome, a special anti-smuggling operation, Operation Hawk Descend, was launched by the comptroller-general of customs, Abdullahi Dikko, and within the first month of its launch, it recorded significant seizures.
The objective of the operation is to further help drive the attainment of the federal government’s food sufficiency plan.
Flagged off in the south western flank of the Nigerian borders specifically to enforce the ban on imported frozen poultry products, it will, apart from the protection of local poultry businesses in Nigeria, provide more jobs, boost the economy and also help guide against the import of poultry products-related diseases.
In the first week of the launch of this special operation, the anti-smuggling operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) seized a total of 1,803 cartons of banned poultry products, and according to the service, the poultry products, seized mainly in the south western axis of the Nigerian-Benin border, is estimated to be worth over N12 million, which is a significant loss to those still trading in the banned product.
Most of the seizures, it was learnt, were made when commercial vehicles conveying them into the country were apprehended by customs officers. A significant number of the seizures were made on the Iyafin Badagry waterways, the lagoon that stretches through the Nigeria-Benin Border. A breakdown of the seizures showed that the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) seized a total of 975 cartons, Seme Command 461 cartons, Oyo/Osun Command 247 cartons while the Western Marine Command seized a total of 110 cartons, bringing the sum total to 1,803 cartons.
Assessing the success of the first week of the operation, Dikko acknowledged the support of border communities in effecting the seizures even as he commended them for obliging customs patrol officers with reliable intelligence about the activities of poultry products smugglers and cold room operators in the area. Dikko further urged hotel and restaurant owners, fast food outlet operators as well as barbecue sellers to shun smuggled chicken, noting that the protection of the Nigerian poultry sector is the responsibility of all.
The sustained dedication of customs operatives to the success of Operation Hawk Descend saw an increase in the worth of seizures of poultry products in the second week of the operation to N21,832,994 as against the N12 million recorded in the first week. The seizures in this instance, 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.
A breakdown of the seizures again showed the FOU recording a total of 1,636 cartons of seized products, Seme Command 318 cartons, Ogun Command 3,150 cartons and the Western Marine Command seizing a total of 1,102 cartons, bringing the sum total seized by all commands to 6,206 cartons. Furthermore, the service in the third week of its fight against smuggling of frozen poultry products recorded seizures worth N28,660,717.
The seizures which consist of 5,915 cartons of frozen poultry product were mostly conveyed in commercial vehicles and this trend has been observed to be a recurring pattern. The smuggled products which were again confiscated by customs officers around the south western axis of the country were specifically seized around the Badagry Creeks, Seme axis and Idiroko axis of Ogun State.
