. Western Marine command rakes in N700 million in six months
By Eniola Idris
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Area 1 Command Ogun State has announced the seizure of 58 trailer-loads of smuggled parboiled rice with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of about N834, 765, 273 in the last six months of 2021.
Meanwhile, the Western Marine Command (WMC) of the NCS, made total of 30 seizures from January to June, 2021 with DPV of N747,202,000 between January to June 2021.
The Ogun 1, Command’s Area Controller, Peter Kolo while parading the seizures, revealed that the command has made among others, a seizure of 34, 540 bags of foreign parboiled rice of 50kg each, an equivalent of 58 trailers.
Other seizures according to Kolo, include: Vegetable oil,31 kegs of 25 litres each, 1,514 wraps of cannabis Sativa, and 2,224 kegs of PMS among others.
He revealed that the command also generated total revenue of N15, 261,074.00 within the period under evaluation which mainly proceeds of auction sales of seized petroleum product PMS and metals.
He said: “It should be noted that the federal government of Nigeria’s directive on border closure is still subsisting, hence there is no revenue generated from imports activities’’.
Comptroller kolo also noted that the intelligence network in the command is still very active and it is being deployed in virtually all its operations, which have been yielding greater success.
Some other monumental achievements also recorded are: 24 Units of motorcycles ( means of conveyance), 84 Bails of Secondhand Clothing and 12 Sacks of Used hand bags. Other seizures recorded in their various quantities are: Sugar, 30 bags of 50kg each, Tomato Paste, 51cartons, Used Vehicles, 410 Units. All these are among the year 2021 incredible performance from Ogun1 Command.
However, the Ag. Customs Area Controller, Deputy Comptroller Enonche Ochiba said the unprecedented seizures were made as a result of the strategies put in place in terms of 24hour patrol, capacity building, surveillance, intelligence gathering and determination of our operatives in making the waterways unbearable for smugglers.
He appreciates the CGC and his management team for the motivation and support giving to the Command leading to seamless execution of it’s statutory responsibilities.
