From Bola Ogunlayi, Ibadan
The Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Ibadan, announced a single seizure of contraband with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N10 billion in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
In a press statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the unit, Peter Duniya, and made available to journalists, the acting Customs Area Controller, Usman Yahaya said the seizure was made at Ido-Eruwa road in one day.
“The economic saboteurs met their waterloo when our operatives acted based on credible information, made a single seizure at Ido-Eruwa Road in Ibadan, Oyo State.
“The contraband include 34 different brands of both new and used vehicles laden with banned items such as second-hand clothes, foreign parboiled rice and Indian hemp,” Yahaya said.
The area controller noted that although there was stiff resistance from the smugglers who engaged the Customs operatives in a battle, the men displayed a high level of professionalism and restraint to secure the contraband to the Customs warehouse in Lagos.
“Our operatives were met with stiff resistance from a combination of smugglers, hoodlums and villagers.
However, with the application of a high level of professionalism, the patrol teams were able to bring all the vehicles down to Lagos without any casualty,” Yahaya added.
He warned smugglers to desist from engaging in economic activities that could sabotage government policies.
“While we appreciate the support and the cooperation of patriotic members of the public in carrying out our mandate by providing timely and useful information, however, recalcitrant economic saboteurs should note that they would continue to count their losses because we are better mobilized, organized and backed by the extant laws to be always ahead of them,” he added.
Meanwhile,residents in the area constantly lament the noisy nature of the Ologuneru and Eleyele community owing to such illegal activities in the night.
