GOODS WITH DUTY PAID VALUE OF OVER #400M SEIZED ALONG OWERRI- PORT HARCOURT

The Nigeria Customs Service has confiscated goods with the duty paid value of over four hundred million naira on Owerri- Port Harcourt road within the last two weeks.

The items included trucks loaded with about two thousand bags of foreign rice, three hundred bales of used clothing, more than one thousand cartons of analgin injection concealed in a container and two containers carrying imported furniture.

Displaying the items to newsmen in Owerri, the Comptroller Nigeria Customs Service Federal Operations Unit “Zone C” Owerri, Mr. Kayode Olusemire, said some of the rice had expired and as such constituted a health hazard to consumers.

Trucks loaded with granites were used to conceal some of the bags of rice.

Mr. Olusemire explained that Federal Government had since 2005 banned analgin medication due to dangerous side effects and wondered why such item could still find its way into the country.

He noted that six suspects were arrested for their alleged involvement in the smuggling and warned those he described as economic saboteurs to desist from illicit business.

The Comptroller said the furniture was seized due to false declaration just in a bid to evade payment of duty and vowed to end activities of smugglers within the zone.

Chinazo Ilechukwu