Adeniyi Olugbemi, Sokoto

The Nigerian Customs Service, Kebbi Area Command, during it activities last year, impounded prohibited goods worth ₦118, 944,926.00, in one hundred and fifty four seizures.

The sum of ₦13,181,500.00 was equally generated as revenue from the auction sales of one hundred and twenty eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty Litres of PMS/AGO and other perishable items seized by the Command in accordance with extant laws, which has since been remitted to the Federal Government coffers.

The Area Controller, Comptroller Hafiz Kalla, at a press conference held at the command headquarters, where he later showcase some of the seized items said, the seizure records for the year ended when compared with the year 2020, shows a sharp decline in the frequency of smuggling and items smuggled.

The seized items include; 1,583 bags of 50kg and 10 bags of 25kg of foreign parboiled rice, 299 packages of 1kg of indian hemp, 253 bales of second hand clothing and 1,603 pieces of new textile materials. The rest include one tanker loaded With 50,000 litres of PMS, 5 units of vehicles and 111 pieces of used tyres.

Comptroller Kalla said, “the seizure records for the year ended when compared with the year 2020, shows a sharp decline in the frequency of smuggling and items smuggled.

“For instance, while the Command made a total number of 234 seizures in the year 2020, the frequency of smuggling recorded in 2021 was 154, which suggests a 35% decline in the rate of smuggling.

“The quantity of recorded foreign parboiled rice smuggled into the state compared with the year 2020, dropped by 20% in 2021, suggesting that our eagled eyed officers are winning the war against rice smugglers in the state.”

The Comptroller however, acknowledged the contributions of the customs management leadership, doggedness of gallant officers and men of the commands as well as the support of other units in the Service and relevant security agencies through mutual collaboration and intelligence sharing

“The successes the command recorded in the year under review could not have been realised without the necessary support from the Customs Management that reinforced the command with seven brand new operational vehicles to boost its anti smuggling capacity.

“These brand new operational vehicles have boosted our morale. Just within the first week of this year, our gallant officers were able to make spectacular seizures of 389KG of Cannabis along Kamba Road and were able to scuttle the activities of PMS smugglers on our waterways in Yauri thereby, evacuating 150 drums of PMS, equivalent to 30,000 litres. The two seizures are worth twenty one million, one hundred and eighty thousand naira,” Comptroller Kalla stated.