The Comptroller General of Customs Strike Force Team, Zone A, Lagos has intercepted goods worth N9.1 billion part of the seizure include truck load of Cannabis with a duty paid value of five hundred and sixteen million, six hundred thousand naira (N516,600,000).
The Team also seized various goods with a total duty paid value of nine billion, one hundred and twenty-two million, seven hundred and ten thousand, three hundred and fifty- naira (N9, 122,710,355) in 2022.
While addressing the press on Wednesday, the Team Leader, Comptroller Sani Yusuf, said that the seizures include 225mg of Tramadol, 100mg of Sildenafil Citrate, Codeine Cough syrup, used tyres and bales of secondhand clothing.
Others are bags of foreign parboiled rice, containers of timber, Pangolin scales, slabs of donkey skin and Cannabis Sativa, among others.
Comptroller Yusuf also disclosed that the team generated five billion, eight hundred and forty-three million, five hundred and twenty thousand, four hundred and seventy-seven naira (N5,843,520,477) through demand notices from January to December, last year.
Yusuf hinted that the 2022 revenue witnessed an increase of 55 per cent or N1, 928,966,233 when compared with what was generated in 2021.
He further said that the single seizure of a truckload of Cannabis was made to discourage the business of smuggling because it is capable of destroying the national economy as well as affect living standard of Nigerians.
He said that the illicit business favours a few selfish ones who do not mean well for the country.
While applauding the team effort of his team who worked with a lot of intelligence in tracking the cannabis, he sounded a note of warning to all unpatriotic importers and their agents who go the extra mile in daring his team.
“We shall not only make seizures, but our ever-vigilant operatives will also get them arrested to face the full wrath of the law”, he stated.
Yusuf said the year 2022 witnessed a robust anti-smuggling drive, marked by tremendous success as highlighted above.
He stressed that for this year, his team is fully ready to tackle any operations, suppress smuggling and prevent revenue loss.
Yusuf thanked God for the modest achievement in 2022, he also thanked the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) CFR, for assisting the team to achieve its goals through his logistics support.
He equally thanked his officers who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the Team’s mandate is achieved.