The Nigeria Customs Service, Ogun Area Command 1 has has reportedly seized 38 truckloads containing 19,000 bags of foreign parboiled rice in the border areas of the state with Duty Paid Value of N307.891m in the first quarter of the year.
The Area Controller, Peter Kolo, who stated this while speaking with journalists in Abeokuta on Tuesday, said some of the bags of rice were concealed by smugglers in branded trucks owned by Coca-Cola, a multinational firm.
Kolo also said the command in March generated N8.27m and confiscated 167 contraband petroleum products, cannabis Sativa, vehicles and motorcycles used as means of conveyance of the prohibited goods. He puts the combined revenue generated by the command in the first quarter at N12.321m.
While warning against using branded vehicles of multinationals to smuggle contraband goods, the area controller expressed worry that smugglers had not backed down on their “nefarious activities” despite the closure of borders in the state.
He, however, debunked the report of alleged compromise by Customs operatives in the smuggling of prohibited products into the country.