The Nigeria Customs
Service (NCS) says contraband goods are still being found in the country
because some smugglers import rice using gas cylinders.
Joseph Attah
(pictured), public relations officer of the service, told NAN on Wednesday that
most smugglers use unapproved routes to bring in their contraband goods into
the country.
“People often ask
where were customs operatives when contraband goods entered the country without
being stopped,” he explained.
“We have seen a
situation where rice is smuggled using gas cylinders or a situation where spare
tyres are used, the tyre is perforated and rice is loaded inside and when you
open the booth you see what is supposed to be a tyre.
“Another
circumstance, smugglers use caskets that are used to carry corpses to either
smuggle rice or petrol. They sometimes load petro in jerry cans and put it
inside a casket, wrapped in such a way that you think is carrying a dead body.
“A situation like
this, if you don’t have intelligence, you wouldn’t know. For instance, without
tip-off, it is unlikely as a human being to accost a vehicle carrying a casket
with a supposed dead body and request for such to be opened.
“If people with all
these tricks succeed and escape, their smuggled items are what you find in
shops, markets and houses.”
He added that
smugglers’ actions were meant to sabotage the economy and the security of the
country and assured that the service was determined and committed to checking
that.
In November 2019,
the federal government suspended fuel distribution to communities close to the
country’s land borders to stem the smuggling of refined petrol to other
countries.
The NNPC had said
fuel stations in these communities are being used for smuggling as Nigeria’s
subsidised petrol is cheaper than those of neighbouring West African countries.
At present, the
country’s land borders are closed to check the smuggling of food items and
arms.
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