From Mohammadu Bello Birnin Kebbi
In a bid to curtail the activities of smugglers, kebbi State Area Command of the Nigarian Customs Service has seized Smuggled items worth N180.9 from smugglers.
Speaking to Journalists on Tuesday in Birnin Kebbi, the Area Comptroller, Hafiz Kalla said “our activities last year were mainly focused on suppression of smuggling which culminated in one hundred and fifty sezures of assorted items”.
According to him the seized items included 1,583 bags of 50 kg perboiled rice, 229 packages of 1kg of indian hemp, a tanker loaded with 50,000 liters of petrol, 5 units of vehicles and 111 pieces of used otherwise, tokumbo tyres.
The comptroller added that the sum of over N13 million was equally generated as revenue from the auction from the sales of the petroleum (pms) alongside other perishable items seized by the command and the proceeds has since been remitted into the federal government coffers.
Hafiz commended the efforts of the men of the command for their doggedness as well as other security operatives along the boarder areas in making the such seizures possible.
“It is noteworthy to point out that the strategies we put in place brought down the rate of smuggling activities to the bearest minimum in kebbi which state has started yielding positive results”. He declared
He however, attributed the entire success recorded to the unplinching support and cooperation the command is receiving from the Comptroller General of Customs, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd).
Hafiz noted that “This can be attested by the fact that even towards the end of last year, this command was reinforced with seven brand new operational vehicles to boost our anti smuggling capacity”.
It would be recalled that kebbi state shared boarders with Niger and Benin Republic, therefore activities of smugglers must be checkmated with vigour which the area command has been suppressing.
