The Nigerian Customs Service (NSC) Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A, Ikeja has intercepted trucks’ loads of foreign 50-kilogram bags of rice estimated at over 2,000 imported illegally through the borders by smugglers in Ogun State.
As gathered, the Customs officers intercepted the items after days of intelligence gathering to avoid an exchange of gunshots with the smugglers who were said to have abandoned the dozens of rice bags after sighting the law enforcement officers inside the creeks where they had believed would aid in evading arrest.
This interception, which increased the number of illegally imported bags of rice and other items seized by the zone in 2024, came barely three weeks after the Comptroller FOU Zone A, Kola Oladeji disclosed that 48,912 bags of foreign parboiled rice of 50 kilograms each were seized from smugglers between January 1st, 2024 and December 23rd, 2024.
Addressing newsmen on Monday at the FOU headquarters in Ikeja, Oladeji, who disclosed the seizure from the smugglers, stated that aside from the rice, other items were also seized from smugglers during patrols of the borderlines within the last week in the southwest region of the country.
While promising that the law enforcement agency would double its operations going forward, he noted that smugglers believed that the Yuletide period would afford them a better period to engage in illegal operations along the country’s borderlines in the Southwest region.
“But I want to tell them that they have gotten this wrong. This is because for us at the FOU Zone A, we are not relenting in policing our borders across the southwest region of the country, particularly during the festive season. We do not go on holiday nor lower the enforcement standards.
On the exact number of the intercepted bags of rice, he stressed: “I do not have the exact number of rice bags here, but we know that it is over 2,000 due to the number of trucks loaded with the impounded items. But to address your questions on the seizure made by the agency today, we decided to address you. After this discussion, we will do a proper counting of the items seized.
“We were unable to make any arrests because the smugglers abandoned the rice bags upon sighting our officers and, in line with our strategy, we can inform the public that this seizure was done without an exchange of gunshots with the smugglers”.
Oladeji added that the Zone adopted a strategy, “Operation Swift Sting”, which allowed more intelligence gathering on smugglers’ operations before going after them rather than engaging the illegal importers in exchange for gunshots during an arrest.
According to him, FOU Zone A will continue to ensure that no gunshot is fired during operations because we value the lives of Nigerians which we are expected to protect.
Meanwhile, the Customs boss commended the Nigerian Army for supporting the zone’s anti-smuggling fight designed to protect the country’s economy.
“We want to commend the Nigerian Army for their support to ensure that we go after the smugglers and impound any illegally imported items. The Army’s support in the fight against smuggling has helped the zone to strengthen enforcement around the borders”.
It will be recalled that Zone A under Oladeji, the FOU has seized 191,975 liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), 7,861 kg of Cannabis sativa, 6,168 pieces of dry donkey skins, 37,630 sachets of Tramadol.
Other items seized within the period under review include 207 units of Motor Vehicles, 6,755 cartons of foreign frozen poultry products, 1,433 bales of used clothes, and 1,773 units of used refrigerator compressors. and, 317 cartons of illicit medicament.
