Customs Strike Force: The story behind the scene .Its recent exploits in Lagos, Kaduna, Calabar, Kwara, Benin :Segment-4 Report (Sunday Analysis:

Customs Strike Force: The story behind the scene

.Its recent exploits in Lagos, Kaduna, Calabar, Kwara, Benin

Segment-4 Report (Sunday Analysis:

By Udeme Clement

Seven days after the Strike Force of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, under the Supervision of DC Abdullahi Kirawa, as the National Coordinator, unveiled mind boggling seizures worth N9billion, recorded by the team in Zone ‘A’, Lagos, stakeholders in the maritime industry are still showering encomiums on DC Kirawa and his men for their hard work and resilience that brought about the feat.

 The story behind the scene:

The story behind the scene on activities of Customs Strike Force is the ingenuity, swiftness and exceptional technique, in which the team operates in tracking prohibited items being smuggled into the country through the back door.

Financial Business inquest revealed that aside from the latest seizures of 8,090 bags of rice with Duty Paid Value, DPV, of N113.2million, 40ft container of explosives, 195 sacks of Pangolin scales worth N8.39billion, 40ft container load of sex enhancing drugs worth N360million, 459 bales of secondhand clothing worth N22.9million and other seized items with total DPV of N9billion, the Strike Force has intercepted contraband at various States in Nigeria, as shown below.

 Its exploits and recent seizures in Calabar:

Its exploits and recent seizures shaking the maritime industry  included 5,662 bags of smuggled rice and 137 bales of secondhand clothing estimated at monetary value of N137 million, intercepted by December, 2018 in Cross River State (Calabar).

To show their level of inter-agency collaboration with sister agencies like Police, Nigerian Navy, Army, Immigration and other groups, 2,153 out of the 5,662 bags of rice, were handed over to the Strike Force team by the Nigerian Navy.

In Kaduna:

In Kaduna State within Zone ‘B’ area of operations, DC Kirawa and his team seized 49 vehicles and other prohibited items worth N126.8 million from August 3 to September 20, 2018.

Other contraband intercepted within Zone ‘B’ axis  included 13, 983 bags of rice, 3, 983 Jerry cans of vegetable oil, 456 bales of secondhand clothing, 70 bags of sugar and 50 cartons of spaghetti, among others.

In Kwara:

Within the same period, that is the last quarter of 2018, the Strike Force team seized 8,413 bags of rice (50kg each) and 524 (25litres each) of vegetable oil, at a village in Kwara State.

In Benin:

In more attempts to stem the tide in illicit trade, the Strike Force seized contraband, which included rice and other items worth N105.3 million in Benin, Edo, between September 20 and October 19, 2018.
The seized items were 2,185 bags of foreign rice worth N52 million, 600 pieces of used tyres worth N4.05 million, 516 bales of used clothing with DPV of N33.35 million, 35 sacks of used shoes worth N840, 000 and 100 cartons of vegetable oil  worth N3million.
Others included 67 cartons of Tramadol tablets and Codeine syrups worth N12.06 million and 538 bags of cannabis sativa.

Accordingly, the Strike Force was set up by the Comptroller-General of Customs, CGC Ali Hameed, with a mandate to ensure effective suppression of smuggling, in order to enhance economic growth and development.

 Segment-4 Report (Sunday Anaysis:

As promised, this is the weekend reports on activities of Customs Strike Force, brought to you by, www.financialbusiness.com.ng