Customs Intercept 3,166 Cutlasses Hidden in Idiroko Bush

The Operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service Federal Operations Unit Zone Zone ‘A’ have intercepted 3,166 cutlasses illegally imported without an end-user certificate and 7,403 bags of 50kg of foreign parboiled rice.

The seizures were displayed during an October press briefing.

The Unit Acting Comptroller, Deputy Comptroller Hussein Ejibunu said, spectacular Seizures made were a result of due intelligence on the side of his Officers.

Ejibunu added that a total of three thousand, one hundred and sixteen pieces of cutlasses were evacuated into an abandoned building in Idiroko.

“These Cutlasses were intercepted inside a bush at Idiroko, they were hidden in an abandoned hut. The manner and area is suspicious, my Officers evacuated them at about 1 am at the Oja-Odan area of Idiroko.”

“The yuletide and election period are here, we need to fortify the nation, so that dangerous items like this, are not illegally imported into the country.

“It is important for an Importer to get End User Certificate from the Office of the National Security Adviser before importing this.” Ejibunu emphasized.

Additional Seizures are; 53,759 litres of petroleum motor spirit,121 cartons of frozen poultry product, 724 bales of secondhand clothings, 3 units of used motorcycles, 97 pieces of used tyres, 162 (96kg) parcels of Indian.

Other items include; 11 kegs of 25 litres of vegetable oil, 13 units of used fridges, 700 rolls of cigarettes, 23 cartons of dates, 9 units of vehicles and 2 1×40 containers of charcoalall with a duty paid value of N671,609,384.5

“This achievement was possible with the enabling powers of sections: 158 (power to patrol freely), sections 160 – 163 (failure to pay duty on demand, untrue declarations, counterfeiting documents, false scales, etc) of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), Cap C45 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 as amended”, he noted.