Harboursandport.com: Lagos - Operatives of the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has raided some warehouses in Lagos where smuggled goods are kept and recovered 750 bales of second-hand clothes.
Acting Controller of Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Hussein Ejibunu, who led the operation reiterated the resolve of the unit to continually suppress smuggling and prevent loss of government revenue through seaports, airports, land borders and warehouses across the South West.
Ejibunu said the operation is to discourage smugglers from bringing into
Nigeria contraband items from neighbouring Republic of Benin.
The FOU Customs boss restates this following a recent complaint by a
section of Licenced Customs Agents and Freight Forwarders about the presence of
Zone A Federal Operations Unit operatives along the ports access corridor.
He described flawless compliance by importers, agents and freight
forwarders as a major contributor in achieving seamless cargo movement across
the Unit's areas of coverage.
According to him, FOU ZONE A will never compromise national security and
economic interests on the altar of trade facilitation by either allowing
dangerous goods to pass unchecked or leaving consignments that haven't paid
full Customs duty to leave without collecting the shortfalls through demand
notices.
"Only persons or companies that have things to hide or have
breached sections of the Customs and Excise Management Act(CEMA) should
be worried about the presence of my officers anywhere they are seen.
" Traders or importers who are not dealing in contraband or
absolute prohibitions and have paid the right duty without attempting to
falsely declare, under-declare or conceal to smuggle, should go about their
businesses normally. These categories of persons have nothing to worry about
because we are not after them.
"Barely a month of my resumption, all containers and trucks brought
to my Unit in the course of our operations were justifiably intercepted either
as seizures or found to have evaded full duty payment. Some were also
discovered to have concealed bags of rice under cement, a situation that could
endanger consumers of such food commodity.’
“Over 750 bales of used clothes were cleared and stocked in a warehouse;
we got that information and acted as required. Gone are the days when clearing
agents make false declarations of items and get away with it. We shall continue
to intercept and investigate culprits with the view of bringing them to
justice" he said.
On the allegation of corruption against some Customs officers, the
Acting Controller promised to look into it and take appropriate action against
anyone found wanting.
The Ag. Controller said FOU Zone A will continue to serve as one of the
layers of checks and defence against infractions as approved by the management
of the NCS in line with extant laws
No comments:
Post a Comment