Customs impounds 11,315 cartons of imported frozen poultry products

Barely two days after he assumed duty, the new Area Controller of Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Uint Zone ‘C’ Owerri, Comptroller Mohammed Uba Garba, has intercepted a DAF Truck loaded with 11,315 cartons of imported frozen poultry products with Duty Paid Value of N108,624,000.
The vehicle, with registration number LND 641 XM, was impounded on the Benin axis on October 31, 2016, with two suspects arrested in connection with the illicit deal.
The suspects are now helping the Customs in its further investigations.
According to the Area Controller, the truck was ferrying the contraband good by the novelty simply known as false bottom method concealment, which was criminally fashioned by die-hard smugglers to beat the ever-vigilant men of the Nigeria Customs Service.
The seized truck, Garba said, was cleverly partitioned with wood, bolted and knotted as a strategy to avoid being detected by the Customs officials.
Shedding more light on the seizure made, Garba said that the inner layer of the partitioned truck was stockpiled with the contraband goods while the outer layer of the partitions was left to be empty as to divert the attention of the officers.
The Customs Area Controller, who denounced the continued indulgence in smuggling by some Nigerians despite the obvious consequences, warned those still engrossed in the illicit business to purge themselves of this unpatriotic act or be prepared to face the full weight of the law.
He insisted that the poultry product remains a prohibited good because of its unhygienic preservative methods, which is injurious to both the human health and the economy of the nation.
Garba stressed that the NCS is now better equipped and mobilized to meet its challenges.
This, he said, is in line with the mandate of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali (retd), and his team of management that the institution was poised to eliminate all trace of smuggling in the country.
Garba therefore implored members of the public with useful information about smugglers, their agents and collaborators to make them available to the NCS or its sister organizations such as the NDLEA, NAFDAC, Police or SON for necessary action.
He said that the identity of such informers would be handled with utmost confidentiality.