New Telegraph

Customs intercepts illegal exports, rakes N4bn

Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Zone A Strike Force, has made over 200 seizures and raked in N4billion from January till date. Also, the service said that the unit had shifted focus from import to identifying export irregularities, leading to seizures of unprocessed wood, charcoal and coal.

 

The Coordinator of the Strike Force Unit, Deputy Comptroller Ahmadu Shuaibu, who disclosed during a visit by the executive of the Shipping Correspondent Association of Nigeria, explained that NCS had changed the narrative from import dependent to export irregularities and infractions. Shuaibu said that NCS had ICT unit that monitors the entire landscape of import, noting that where there was anything to raise suspicion, Customs would put it to ICT and flagged it for 100 per cent examination. He said: “We have that unit.

 

So, instead of allowing them to come out and thereafter we seize like when we started. Now, we have decided to shift our focus so that we deploy our energy and intelligence to export irregularities and record from our seizures, which we will showcase very soon have showed that there are a lot of irregularities in export.”

 

The coordinator explained that the unit seized unprocessed wood, charcoal and coal in two weeks based on intelligence gathering, stressing that NCS had deployed intelligence in its operation and had helped to avert crisis and unwarranted attacks on officers.

 

According to him, the unit had resolved to implement government extant laws on import and export prohibition, urging the media to work together with the unit against economic saboteurs in the interest of the country. The coordinator said that the unit would continue to frustrate the antics of unscrupulous business men by inflicting financial loss on them.

 

He noted: “The risk is there in every aspect of life and we do risk analysis. Ours is intelligent based. We are not out to get Nigerians killed or for us to be killed. So, we deploy intelligence. In areas where there are frictions, we try to withdraw from them, not that we are afraid of such situations but to avoid crises.

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