Customs intercept luxury vehicles, Indian hemp, others worth N1.7bn in January

Harboursandport.com: Lagos ---The anti-smuggling unit of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, the Federal Operations Unit, FOU Zone “A” in January raked in over N1.7 billion as Duty Paid Value, DPV into the federation account from seized contraband goods, under declaration and concealment by smugglers and importers.

Some of the vehicles impounded by the unit

Customs Area Controller, CAC of the unit, Mohammed Uba Gbarba, who disclosed this at a press briefing in Lagos yesterday, said amongst seized items are 31luxury vehicles, 14 trailers of foreign per boiled rice, 1,652 cartons of frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, Indian hemp, second hand cloths amongst others.

The Customs boss explained that the detained vehicles include four Rolls Royce, one Porsche Panamera, one Jaguar, one Bentley, two Lexus Jeep, two G Wagon, one Toyota Land Cruiser, five Toyota Corolla, seven Mercedes Benz amongst other mostly 2017 models vehicles.

He noted that the 31 vehicles alone have a DPV of N1.42 billion. The Customs boss said some of the vehicles were intercepted along Ijebu Ode expressway while others were evacuated at various raids in Parkview estate, Victoria Island, Banana Island, Alhaji Bankole Crescent Ikeja and Tola Adewunmi Street Maryland, Lagos.

He also disclosed that the DPV for the rice, 10 bags of Indian Hemp, 159 bales of second hand cloths and vegetable oil were N103.6 million, N960,000, N5,724,000 and N4,063,500 respectively.

Similarly, he pointed out that the DPV for 1,652 cartons of frozen poultry products, 2,208 pieces of used tyres, 500 used compressors, 537 cartons of Indian Whiskey and 60 units of used Chest Freezers/570 bundles of gas hose stood at N9,912,000, N11,924,200, N5,000,000, N33,894,000 and N13,140,000 respectively.

He said the Unit also recovered N91.3 million from under declared goods bringing the total revenue collected to N1.71 billion within the period under review.

He charged owners of the intercepted vehicles "to come forward with valid Customs clearance documents otherwise they will be liable to seizure and subsequent forfeiture to the federal government in line with the laws of the land."

He warned smugglers and intending smugglers to look for other business as the unit is determined for fully enforce government policy.