The Ogun State Area Command, Nigeria
Customs Service, has intercepted a petrol tanker and about 25 other
vehicles loaded with smuggled bags of rice.
The new Area Controller, Hassan Gangua,
on Thursday added that the interceptions were recorded in different
parts of the state in the last two weeks.
Ganga, who spoke at the command’s
Idiroko border office, explained that the MAN diesel petrol tanker with
number plate, FST 51 XE, was specially built for smuggling.
He said the tanker, which was filled to
capacity with the smuggled rice, was intercepted by customs operatives
on Monday November 15, 2016, along the Idiroko border area, on its way
to Lagos.
“This interception was made 24 hours after my arrival by our gallant officers,” he added.
Gangua added that 25 cars with built-in
compartments, loaded with bags of smuggled rice, were also intercepted
in the Idiroko area.
The area controller said a trailer was
also intercepted at the Lagos-Sagamu interchange with about 500 bags of
rice on Monday November 21, 2016.
He said, “The goods, which were neatly
packed, were being taken to the Eastern part of the country to be sold
in the open market.”
Gangua said three suspects, Anthony
Nwapa, Osunkwo Chukwu and Hyginus Igbokwe, were arrested in connection
with the seizure, while preliminary investigation was ongoing.
He also said in the last one week, four
vehicles loaded with 4,000 cartons of frozen poultry products and 19
motorcycles used for smuggling of rice were intercepted. He said the
poultry products had been destroyed.
Gangua noted that as Yuletide approached, smuggling had been on the increase.
He, however, stated that the command had
step up its operations, “in order to combat the menace of the smugglers
and bring their activities down to barest minimum.”
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