By Chinonye Anyatonwu
Seizures worth more than N6.6 billion were made by the Comptroller General’s Strike force zone A in the last 8 weeks.
Addressing the newsmen at Ikeja and Ikorodu Warehouse, the Co-ordinator of the Strike force, Deputy Comptroller Mohammed Sani Yusuf disclosed that no less than 4000 bags of foreign parboiled rice were seized.
Others items are 40 cartons of Tramadol, 1,613 cartons of codeine cough syrup, 132 cartons of 200mg sildenafil citrate, and 5 cartons of Chilly cutter.
Ladies shoes of about 110 cartons,and ladies gele were also intercepted.
Donkey skin worth millions of naira were equally seized. The total is 1,030 slabs of donkey skin. 387 kg of cannabis sativa as well as 285 bales of used clothes made the list as well.
Yusuf stated that the federal government through the ministry of health had banned the production/ exportation of codeine because of its gross abuse, noting that the use and abuse of drugs is responsible for the substantial cause of different social vices and criminalities in the society.
‘This is witnessed in the pervasive outburst of insecurity, hence all patriotic citizens are enjoined to support the fight against smuggling of any kind”.
He pointed out that the quest to smuggle foreign parboiled rice into the country has been on the increase, despite desperate efforts by the federal government to encourage local production.
He stated that the attendant effects of smuggling foreign rice into the country includes but not limited to: increase in the rate of unemployment, draining of the nation’s foreign exchange, health hazards among others..
According to him, the continuous extermination of wild life, in this case donkey skin, has negative impact on the bio- diversity in the ecosystem, as consistent elimination of donkeys will eventually lead to the extinction of the specie, which will consequently affect the ecosystem.
Yusuf said, by their mandate, ‘we shall always ensure compliance with all customs extant laws ensure complete payment of duties and penalties through the issuance of Demand Notices (DN) when necessary.
Our 24 hour patrols using the logistics support provided by the Comptroller General, Col Hameed Ali (rtd) has yielded more results in addition to seizures showcased in the last two months”
The Coordinator warned smugglers to desist from such activities and have a rethink, insisting that the team’s readiness against their illegalities is sharpened with renewed vigor, he said.
