Customs in Oyo,Osun collects N23.8bn …Seizes 93 vehicles, 6,067 bags of foreign rice …Arrests 35 suspects

Customs in Oyo,Osun collects N23.8bn

.Seizes 93 vehicles, 6,067 bags of foreign rice

.Arrests 35 suspects

 By Udeme Clement

The Oyo/Osun Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has collected over N23.8billion as revenue for the Federal Government from January to July, 2019, thereby surpassing what was collected in 2018.

 The Command in its anti-smuggling operations recorded 7,951 seizures within the same period, with Duty Paid Value, DPV, of more than N210.8million.

 The seizures made include 93 vehicles; 6,067 bags of rice; 730 jerrycans of vegetable oil; 39 bales of secondhand clothings; 966 used tyres; 50 bags of sugar and six bundles of textile materials.

 The Customs Area Controller, CAC, of the Command, Comptroller Abdullahi Zulkifli revealed this during a press conference at the Command, yesterday.

 He disclosed, “35 suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures, five have been charged to Court while others are on bail.”

 The Area Controller explained further, “It is worthy of note that the Command in its effort to combat smuggling commissioned a Customs outpost at Kishi community in Irepo local government area of Oyo State, on July 30, 2019. The community has long been perceived to engage in smuggling with impunity because of their hostility to Customs officers.

   “The outpost was commissioned in the wake of a courtesy call on the Governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, where the CAC appealed to the Governor, to prevail on Kishi people to refrain from their perceived illicit trade, as the Customs will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute them according to the law.”

 His assertions, “We will continue to dialogue, educate the local and business communities on the security as well as economic implications of smuggling, while carrying out our statutory functions of enforcing compliance on government fiscal policies.

 “The echoing achievements of the Command are attributable to the commitments of officers and men of the Command, with support from Customs Intelligence Unit, CIU, Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone ‘A’, the CGC Strike Force and synergy with other security agencies.

 “My message to the public is, “Smuggling is ill wind that blows nobody any good. Stay away from it. Do not aid and abet it”.