Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ogun Area Command I, has seized 19,000 bags of foreign rice smuggled into the country in 38 trailers.

The Area Controller, Peter Kolo, disclosed this to journalists in Abeokuta yesterday.

Kolo said some of the bags of rice were concealed by smugglers in the branded trucks owned of the CocaCola bottling company, a multinational company.

He put the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the smuggled items recovered by the command in the first quarter of the year at N307.891 million.

The controller, who warned against the use of branded vehicles of multinational companies to smuggle contraband, expressed concern that the hoodlums had not backed down on their “nefarious activities” despite closure of borders in the state.

Kolo also disclosed that the command, in March, generated N8.27 million and confiscated 167 contraband, involving petroleum products, cannabis sativa, vehicles and motorcycles used as means of conveyance of the prohibited goods. He put the combined revenue generated by the command in the first quarter at N12.321 million.

The area controller debunked report of alleged compromise of the Customs operatives in the smuggling of prohibited products into the country.

He said: “Worthy of note is the seizure of over 7,000 bags of 50kg equivalent of about 12 trailer loads of foreign parboiled rice made in one month. Never in the history of this command have we recorded this quantum of rice seizure and I commend the efforts and gallantry of officers serving in the command for this feat. The combined Duty Paid Value of all seizures made in the month of March, 2021 amounted to N116,586,607.

“In view of the foregoing, I wish to state categorically that all the allegations and claims in the publication are not true, they are distractions, mischievous, malicious and done with ulterior motives to detail the agricultural policy of government and the massive investment in the local rice production of patriotic Nigerians,” he added. (New Telegraph)