Officers from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Katsina Area Command, have detained four people in connection with smuggling operations in the State.
The Katsina Customs Area Command credited the resilience and dedication of the officers and men of the Command working with an efficient synergy that is existing among the sister security agencies for the successes recorded within the period under review, even though the suspects were granted administrative bail while investigations were ongoing.
This was revealed on Tuesday at the Command Headquarters in Katsina during the monthly media briefing of the Command on the performance recorded last month by the Customs Comptroller in charge of the Katsina State Command, Dalha Wada Chedi.
Chedi urged the decent citizens of the State and the business community to use the reopened Jibia Border to carry out their trans-border business while showcasing some of the things recovered by the Command during the period under review.
He continued by saying that as the other borders remain blocked, it is illegal to pass or attempt to pass goods owing to the formal federal government policy on border closure.
In order to intercept the smuggled goods that pose a serious threat to the nation’s economy and security, he continued, “the Command will continue to draw on our powerful intelligence collecting approach on border security and ensure a secure environment for legitimate business activities.”
The Customs Comptroller reports that the Command only collected N179,206,288.33 throughout the review period.
According to him, this is a N58 million increase from the 121,800,478.00 million that was gathered in October 2022, or a 47% increase in the revenue gathered.
According to him, the Command seized smuggled vehicles and modes of transportation during the period under review, including 239 bags of foreign rice weighing 50 kilograms each with a Duty Paid Value of N7,098,300.00, two bags of foreign rice weighing 25 kilograms each with a DPV of N30,800.00, 821 cartons of foreign spaghetti with a DPV of N4,926,000.00, and 20 cartons of foreign macaroni with a DPV of 120,000.00
11 cartons of foreign couscous, 973 kg of exhaust fiber catalyst, 12 bags of tiger nuts weighing 100 kg each, 25 bales of used clothing, 13 bags of China Green Tea, 65 Jerry cans of premium motor spirit measuring 25 liters each, 70 cylinders of liquified petroleum gas weighing 50 kg each, two cylinders of liquified petroleum gas weighing 25 kg each, and sacks of children’s clothing are among the additional items.
