Adamawa/Taraba State Customs Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has impounded trailer load of 330 kilogrammes of Pangolin scales, foreign rice stuffed in bags of beans. The seizures also include 33,000 litres of petroleum products valued at N98.3 million.
Customs Area Comptroller, Kamardeen Olumoh, who addressed newsmen at the headquarters in Yola on Tuesday, said the trailer was impounded and brought to the headquarters with the content from where it was seized along the Yola-Mubi road.
He said the rice was hidden and presented as beans to deceive Nigerian Customs personnel who have been enforcing the federal government’s policy against the importation of rice.
“At the end of the count, we discovered that 256 bags of parboiled rice smuggled into the country were packed with the beans.”
He said both commodities and the trailer conveying them would be forfeited and warned owners of trailers and trucks to be mindful of those who drive their vehicles as vehicles found to have been used to convey contraband goods would always be seized with the goods.
Reviewing the services of the command for 2019, the Customs Area Controller, Kamardeen said that the command surpassed its target in 2019.
According to him, “The command, though an enforcement area generated total revenue of N161.9 million realising an increase of N13.2 million or 8.9 over the given target of N148.6 million for the year under review.