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FOU impounds two bullet-proof Toyota SUVs, others

By Moses Ebosele
02 September 2015   |   2:10 am
THE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘C’ Owerri has impounded 13 new vehicles, including two bullet-proof Toyota Prado Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs).

TOYOTATHE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘C’ Owerri has impounded 13 new vehicles, including two bullet-proof Toyota Prado Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs).

A statement issued by the unit explained that the bullet-proof SUVs were impounded with other vehicles and contraband goods “with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) N545.6million”.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Dimka Victor David explained that the seizures were made along Aba/Eleme axis and Agbor-Benin Expressway within one week, “after the unit impounded an illegally imported bullet-proof vehicle.”

According to him, also seized were 85 bales of second-hand clothes with DPV of N8,160,000.00, and 1 X 40 container of 373 bales of used school bags with a DPV of N22,477,200.00 coupled with 13 smuggled new vehicles.

Other vehicles are nine Toyota Land cruiser and three Toyota Corolla cars “with DPV of N285,242,000.00”. Also, two trucks carrying 1,220 bags of 50kg rice valued at DPV of N22,814,000 were impounded among other smuggled trucks with DPV of N110,187,000.00 and “numerous cartons of imported frozen poultry products with DPV of N96,770,840.00”, adding that the products have already been destroyed.

Enumerating the consequences of smuggling to the nation, Dimka wondered why some individuals are still engrossed in the illicit act. He said smuggling has brought “unspeakable sorrows and grief to those caught and members of their families”.

According to him, NCS will not relent in the discharge of its statutory duties until smugglers are brought to their knees. He said the seized imported bags of rice neither had National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) registration number nor date of expiration; adding that the frozen poultry products also seized were destroyed to spare innocent and unsuspecting consumers from possible death.

He said: “They are harmful, injurious and unfit for human consumption because the method of preservation is unknown and we have enough poultry here in the country that can feed the whole nation.”

Also seized were 85 bales of second-hand clothes with DPV of N8,160,000.00, and 1 X 40 container of 373 bales of used school bags with a DPV of N22,477,200.00

The statement issued by the Customs Public Relations Officer, Onuigbo Ifeoma, quoted Dimka as saying that men of the NCS were better trained and were undergoing capacity building all over the Commands and “Command and Staff College” Gwagwalada to meet its challenges.

He commended sister agencies such as the Police, the Department of State Security (DSS), the NAFDAC and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for their sustained support to the Customs in their onslaught against smuggling and enjoined members of the public to always supply useful information that will enable the establishment to attain greater heights in the performance of their function.

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