The Adamawa/Taraba zonal command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted 531bags of 50kg urea fertiliser and 29,385 litres of Petroleum products and other contrabands worth N145million along Nigeria/Cameroonian border areas.
Addressing press a conference in Yola, the comptroller, Alajogun Olaniyi disclosed how a petrol tanker ferrying 358 bags of 50kg foreign rice into the country, was intercepted in the border communities.
Petroleum products are now being sold above N165 per litre approved by the federal government in Adamawa/Taraba States.
This is due to their being scarce commodities which now go for N250 per litre at most filling stations in the two states.
Economic saboteurs are now using the opportunity to ship the products out of the country through the porous borders of the two states bordering Cameroon.
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Customs officers were unable to secure all access points into the country due to the severe insecurity in the northeast which traffickers exploit.
But the customs men are catching up and now playing the saboteurs at their game leading to a lot of smuggled items being intercepted.
The comptroller incharge of the two states, Alajogun Olaniyi intercepted some petroleum products while being smuggled out of the country to Republic of Cameroon.
He puts the total duty paid value of the seized items at N144, 627, 737, adding that due to the inflammable nature of the products, they were sold off at N12.5 million with the money deposited into the federation account.
He revealed the strategy that fraudsters now use to carry foreign rice into the country through the nation’s borders.
Among other contraband items displayed by the Command from August under CP Alajogun include: 531 bags of 50kg urea fertiliser and 29,385 litres of Petroleum products.
Others were: 2,600 litres of foreign engine oil, 168 bales and 23 sacks of used clothing, six used vehicles, 75 cartons of foreign soap, 165kg of pangolin scales, and three sacks of used shoes, among others.
