The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) said on Wednesday that it had reduced smuggling in Kebbi by 35 per cent last year, when compared with similar activities in 2020.
Area Controller of the Service in the state, Mr Hafiz Kalla, who stated this in Birnin Kebbi while briefing journalists, attributed this feat to strategies put in place by the command.
“While the Command made a total number of 234 seizures in the year 2020, the frequency of smuggling recorded in 2021 was 154, which suggests a 35 per cent decline in the rate of smuggling.
“Similarly, the quantity of recorded foreign parboiled rice smuggled into the State compared with the year 2020 had plummeted by 20 per cent in 2021.
“A cursory look at our seizure records for the year ended when juxtaposed with the year 2020, shows a sharp decline in the frequency of smuggling and the items smuggled,” he said.
Kalla said that the command had seized over 154 assorted items valued at N118.9 million its effort to check smuggling activities in 2021 in the state.
“Our activities last year mainly focused on suppression of smuggling, which culminated in 154 seizures of assorted items valued at N118.9 million.
The Controller called on relevant stakeholders to continue collaborating with the Service by supplying useful information that would help check activities of smugglers.