At least five suspected smugglers have been arrested and detained by officers of the Katsina Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC).
Arrested along with Dutsima Local Government Area of Katsina State, the suspects comprised of four young men that followed a petroleum tanker vehicle concealed with bags of foreign parboiled rice along with a man who eventually came claiming ownership of the vehicle.
Also in the process, items worth 32 million, 876 thousand, 300 naira were also seized.
While briefing newsmen at the command headquarters, Katsina, the newly posted Customs Area Comptroller in charge of Katsina Area Command, Comptroller Adewale Musa Aremu explained that the suspects are currently undergoing interrogation in a cell, assuring readiness and determination to deal decisively with smugglers in the state.
Other items seized by the Customs officers include 210 bags of foreign parboiled rice valued at three million, 696 thousand naira, DAF truck used as means of conveyance valued at 13 million, 500 thousand naira, one BMW X5 2014 Model valued at 3 million, 526 thousand, 52 naira, one Hilux Toyota 2020 Model valued at 6 million, 809 thousand, 403 naira, as well as one Toyota Land Cruiser valued at 17 million 494 thousand, 845 naira.
On February 2nd, 2021, twenty assorted items with a Duty Paid Value of 152 million, 866 thousand naira have been intercepted by the Joint Border Patrol Team of the Nigeria Customs Service in Katsina State, KatsinaPost reports.
Speaking recently during a press briefing held at the state capital, the coordinator of Sector 4 Command of the National Border Drill Operations, Comptroller Aliyu Mohammed listed the sector’s achievements recorded in the last three weeks since the opening of the nation’s twelve land borders with three of the borders says it is simple to assess the level of compliance.
Mohammed also counselled residents living around the border communities to desist from accommodating smugglers and their illegally smuggled items threatened to use section 8 of the Customs and Excile Management Act (CEMA) to expose all items deposited in various warehouses suspected to have been smuggled into the country.
(KatsinaPost)