THE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’ Ikeja, said its operatives arrested 10 suspects in connection with smuggled goods intercepted by officials last month.
The intercepted prohibited goods were said to be worth over N746 million.
Addressing reporters in Lagos on Thursday, the Acting Controller of the unit, Deputy Comptroller Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu, said the seizures included 8,309 (50kg ) bags of foreign parboiled rice, equivalent to 14 trailer loads; 2,428 (25-litre kegs) of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and 221 cartons of foreign frozen poultry products.
Others were 486 parcels (262kg) of Indian Hemp, four units of foreign used vehicles, 111 pieces of used tyres, 10 bales of used clothing and eight sacks of used shoes.
He said the unit, in its quest to prevent revenue loss through infractions such as under-valuation, under-payments, wrong classification and declaration, collected N66,726,153.35 following the issuance of demand notices to defaulters.
The Customs chief disclosed that the unit, through the Federal High Court, had secured eight convictions in the last ten 10 months, while 48 different cases were at various stages of prosecution in the court.
Eighteen-Eleven Media