Customs seizes 12 trucks of smuggled rice worth N537.5m

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A, Ikeja, Lagos State, says its operatives have intercepted 12 trucks of foreign parboiled rice smuggled into the country from Benin Republic.

The acting Customs Area Controller of the anti-smuggling unit of the service, Hussein Ejibunu, made the disclosure while speaking to newsmen in Lagos on Tuesday.

Ejibunu said the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of contraband seized by the NCS operatives worth N537.5million.

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He added that the Customs officers collected N24.5million revenue through meticulous checks on import documents, and the issuance of demand notices to importers/agents found to have underpaid their duties.

The seized items included 7,261 bags of 50kg foreign parboiled rice (equivalent to 12 trucks load), 600 bags of basmati rice (5kg each), 34,725 litres of petrol, 39 bales of used clothes, and 225 pieces of used tyres.

Others were 201 cartons of expired seasoning (Chicken Cubes), 331 cartons of frozen poultry VIII, 6 units of used imported cars, 2,634 cartons of slippers/shoes, 900 pairs of used shoes, and 42 units of used motorcycles, among others.

The Star