Customs impounds 664 cartons of unregistered drugs, 1,140 cartons of supermarket goods

By Seun Ibiyemi

The Comptroller General Strike Force Unit of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Wednesday said it intercepted, 664 cartons of unregistered drugs and 1,140 cartons of supermarket goods imported into the country through the nation’s seaport.

Speaking during a media briefing held in Lagos, the Coordinator of the unit, Deputy Comptroller, Ahmadu Shuaibu said the unit also recovered N426.4million as debit note collected on cargoes that were under declared at the seaport.

According to DC Shuaibu, “Sequel to conscientious documentary checks, the ICT component of the team recovered the sum of N426.4 million from demand notices (DN) raised within April till yesterday, 25th of May 2021. The money recovered from demand notices could have been lost to unscrupulous importers.

He said the seizures are products of credible intelligence and meticulous documentary checks, adding that Government’s rationale for prohibiting the importation/exportation of some of these goods is to safeguard the nation’s socio-economic and health well-being.

While giving the breakdown of the seizures made within the period under review, he said the seizures include, 575 bales of secondhand clothing, 1,140 cartons of supermarket goods, 664 cartons of drugs without NAFDAC number, 530 cartons of footwears and 1,600 bags of foreign parboiled rice.

However, he decried unlawful importation of textile materials into the country, adding that such importation kills the nation’s textile industries and jobs meant for teeming youths in the country.

He warned importers to desist from importing goods, which have negative impact on the nation’s economy and the lives of Nigerians.

He added, “While we appreciate our patriotic trader’s for their compliance with the Customs and Excise extant laws, we employ the cooperation of all international traders to imbibe compliance in the interest of the nation’s socio-economic wellbeing and security.”