Customs FOU Zone ‘B’ make seizures worth over N1.7bn in 2019

From Femi Oyelola, kaduna

The Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘B’ said it made seizures of various items including vehicles worth Duty Paid Value (DPV) N1,712,781,600.00 in 2019, Comptroller Mustapha Sarkin- Kebhu has disclosed.
This is just as he confirmed that the FOU Zone ‘B’ generated revenue of N1,194,910,838.00 billion as duty paid on vehicles between 29th October to 31st December, 2019 when the Comptroller General of Customs graciuously opened a window for car dealers to come and pay duties on their vehicles.
He recalled that the unit made tremendous successes in 2019 as against the 2018 when the total DPV of goods seized stood at N965,030578.
Comptroller Sarkin-Kebbi who gave the details in an interview in Kaduna, further said 21,816 bags of rice with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over N519 million were seized in 2019.
He explained that the 2019 seizures were more than the 14,840 bags of rice valued N213.69 million seized from smugglers in 2018.
According to him, 597 vehicles with DPV of over N948 million were apprehended in 2019 as against 304 vehicles with DPV of over N354 million seized in 2018.
In the same year under review, he said 367 kegs of PMS were also seized and auctioned to the public while 4,705 kg of smuggled vegetable oil valued at N88.92 million and 1,267 bags of sugar were also confiscated from smugglers in 2019.
Other items seized included 5,703 cartons of spaghetti and macaroni worth DPV over N20 million and 1,171 bales of second hand clothing worth DPV of over N112 million.
He said 32 motorcycles used for smuggling worth N576,000 were also seized in 2019, adding that 20 persons were apprehended in connections with the seizures, some of whom he disclosed has been prosecuted accordingly with some convictions gotten.
He said the FOU zone ‘B’ has been designated as a Duty collection centre in the zone for vehicles brought into the country without documents, and urged such vehicle owners and dealers to take advantage of the window to get valid documents for their vehicles to avoid embarrassment.
“The fight against all forms of smuggling and smugglers in the country is a continuous one until they smugglers stop such illicit job” he stressed while calling for the support of all and sundry in the fight.