Operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service Federal Operations Unit "Zone A" in a gun battle with Smugglers intercepted One (1) unit of pump action riffle, two (2) units of locally made guns and thirty-five (35) live cartridges among other Seizures.
This was disclosed by the acting Comptroller of the Unit, Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Hussein Ejibunu in a monthly Press briefing held in the Unit's Headquarters at Ikeja, Lagos.
"This pump action riffle was collected from one of the smugglers after a heavy gun duel around Idiroko axis, the smuggler abandoned his rifle and ran into the bush. The smugglers are familiar with the terrain but the most important thing is that the Rice, Riffle and the means of conveyance were seized. The documents of the Vehicles are fake, making them difficult to trace. However, a frantic effort is being made to arrest the fleeing smugglers." He noted.
According to the Unit boss, a total number of one thousand, nine hundred and fifty-five bales of used clothing were evacuated from an abandoned building around the Lagos International Trade Fair complex in Lagos.
"Prominent among the September seizures was a massive discovery of bales of 1,955 bales of used clothing in an abandoned building around the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex. We made the discovery and evacuation using combined strategies of intelligence, tactics and enforcement." He emphasised.
Other seizures recorded within the same period are 7,328 x 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice, 121,550 litres of premium motor spirit, 68 cartons of frozen poultry, 37 crates of eggs used to conceal rice,150 parcels of Indian Hemp,10 pieces of military Camouflage bags, 6 units of used cars (Tokunbo) all with a duty paid value of Six Hundred and Twenty-two Million, Four Hundred and Seven Thousand, Five Hundred and Eighty-six Naira (622,407, 586).
"In our efforts to prevent losses to government revenue, we also recovered the sum of One Hundred and Seven Million, Eight Hundred and Sixteen Thousand, Six Hundred Twenty-two Naira, Seventy-five Kobo (N107,816,622.75) for the period under review."
In another development, DC Hussein Ejibunu said the Federal High Court passed three judgements in favour of the Unit on three criminal cases; securing the conviction of five people for having smuggled goods. While six civil suits against the Unit were dismissed for lack of merit.
While thanking Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) and his Management Team, Hussein Ejibunu said, there is the full deployment of manpower and logistics to achieve the Unit's goals.
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