Again: FOU intercepts N1.3bn vehicles, bullet proof cars …Seizes hard drugs, 17 containers of wood …Rakes in N1.7bn

Again: FOU intercepts N1.3bn vehicles, bullet proof cars

.Seizes hard drugs, 17 containers of wood

.Rakes in N1.7bn

By Silas Onuoha

Only one month after the Federal Operations Unit , FOU, Zone A, of  Nigeria Customs Service, NCS,made a mind boggling seizures of  bullet proof cars from a private home at Ikoyi in Lagos, the Unit has again seized 64  assorted vehicles smuggled into the country without appropriate Customs papers and kept at a private place in Omole area of Lagos.

The Customs Area Controller, CAC, of FOU, Comptroller Mohammed Uba, disclosed this to news men during a press briefng in Lagos, taking them around massive seizures recorded by the Command within just one month.

According to him, “57 out of the 64 vehicles seized by our team were kept at Omole estate, Ojodu area and Olayiwole close, Lekki Phase-1.  And the seven vehicles were seized while on information patrol along Ijebu Ode expressway and Olorunda area”.

His words, “The vehicles were evacuated based on intelligience and till now no body has come forward to claim ownership. Let me remind everyone here that vehicle importation through land borders is banned by the Federal Government.  Even if it is airplane that is brought in through the land borders,  we will seize it because importation of such item through land borders is banned. The same thing goes for rice. Rice importation through the land borders is banned.”

“The detained vehicles include two Lexus Jeep (bullet proof), one Toyota land cruiser (bullet proof), nine Toyota Hilux, eight Toyota Hiace vehicles, 26 Toyota corolla, nine land cruiser Jeep, five Toyota camry, one land rover, one Nissan sentra, one Pajero jeep, all 2017 models and one Sienna of 2015 model,  as well as one lexus RX 350 among others. These 64 assorted vehicles have a Duty Paid Value, DPV,  of N1.3billion”.

“A total of 17 by 20ft containers loaded with wood were also seized and are under detention on suspicion that they have not met the required guidelines for export. Also, one by 20ft container was seized for carrying 385 cartons of Tiffany crunch cream biscuit, 2,300 cartons of Tiffany chocolate and tofee sweet falsely declared.  This is a clear case of false declaration, which attracts outright seizure.”

In the same vein, FOU recovered N108.3million, making a cumulative revenue of N1.7billion.

On the hard drugs, the CAC said, “In the spirit of inter-agency collaboration we are handing over the seized Indian hemp to National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, for further investigation”.

He enthused, “I am using this opportunity to thank the Comptroller General of Customs, CGC, Hameed Ali and his entire management team for providing our Unit with necessary logistics that brought about this feat.”