Mr Usman Abubakar, the Spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operation Unit Zone ‘B’, on Tuesday said the unit intercepted 714 jerry cans of smuggled vegetable oil in Sokoto.
Addressing journalists in Sokoto, Abubakar said that bags of sugar, bales of second hand clothes and drugs were also intercepted by the unit patrol team on Illela-Sokoto road this month.
He said the Comptroller in charge of the unit, Mr Usman Dakingari, had inspected the items, adding that similar inspection of seized goods was conducted in Kano and Katsina States.
He said: “the seized items were worth N9.2 million of duty paid value and were concealed in various locally produced items.
“NCS has competent intelligent officers, investigating specialized activities across the country.
“The zone has deployed different tactics to tackle smuggling and reassured the public of its readiness to enforce government regulations.”
The official appealed to people residing in border communities to assist the service with useful information to prevent smuggling of goods into the country.
The spokesman pointed out that smugglers use various structures, including residential buildings, to store smuggled items in piecemeal before uploading into trucks.
He said smuggling was crippling the nation’s economy and industrial growth, as well as endangering the populace and creating unemployment.
Federal Operation Unit Zone ‘B’ covers Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, Kogi and Kwara States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
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