Seme Customs renews offensive against smugglers

By Tayo Oladapo |

The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of Seme Command, Comptroller Mohammed, Aliyu, has re-stated his commitment in combating smuggling head long which has assumed a threatening dimension to the socio-economic development of Nigeria.
This vow came on the heel of another interception of smuggled 600x50kg rice by the command with an estimated Duty Paid Value of N10million.

Comptroller Aliyu,taking stocks of seizures made daily by the command, disclosed that he remain undaunted to accusations and blackmail from different quarters whom he accused of being ignorant or not knowledgeable about customs laws ‘that he arrests everything that comes into Nigeria’. He reassured genuine stakeholders with compliant business attitude of goverment support, saying they have nothing to fear.

The CAC who is believed to have set an unprecedented record in anti-smuggling and revenue generation at the command, said attempts to blackmail him will not make him compromise on his mandate and soil his hard earned reputation and integrity.

The Customs chief insisted that he cannot stop seizing contrabands and non-compliant goods that refuse to adhere to the law of the land thereby undermining the policies of the federal government of Nigeria .
He consequently ordered the destruction of a total of over 2800x50kg bags of rice said to have expired, with a total DPV of over forty nine (49) million naira.
A statement by the Command PRO, Taupyen Selchang said the command also seized a truck with Reg. No XE-634-MUS disguised as empty but discovered to be carrying about 1514 cartons of imported Tin-tomato with a DPV of N8,175,600.00 on the 24th March 2018, through intelligence.
Commenting on the daily seizures that has become a daily routine in the command, the Customs Area Controller said that a visit to the warehouse of the command which is almost filled up to the brim attests to the fact that the Nigeria Customs Service Seme Command is not resting on its oars and responsibility of generating revenue, facilitating legitimate trade, suppression of smuggling and protecting the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
Aliyu was quoted as saying that the command will continue to operate on the basis of ease of doing business as his officers continue to optimize due diligence and the use of the command’s scanning fixed scanner machine to achieve trade facilitation.

He warned that seizure will continue to be the hall mark of the command and his enforcement officers will continue to do the needful against the unrepentant smugglers. However, the customs helmsman stressed that all his achievements are attributable to the mutual consultation and cooperation with the host communities who do share intelligence with the Command, and the cooperation of the sister security agencies who synergize and collaborate with the Nigeria Customs Service for effective border management.