The House of Representatives Committee on Customs has resolved to investigate illegal activities being perpetrated by criminals at Bonded Terminals and Free Trade Zones across the country.
This was disclosed disclosed by the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Leke Abejide when he led members of the Committee on an oversight visit to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
Hon. Abejide who commended the NCS on their recent seizure of the cache of arms in Rivers State and a consignment of hard drugs in Lagos said, such seizures not only tackle economic sabotage but save lives of Nigerians.
According to him, the discoveries and seizure of such dangerous imports were coming at a time when the country is facing insecurity challenges and other criminalities leading to loss of lives and properties across the country.
He said, “”I want to commend the outstanding efforts of the service on your recent achievements in Lagos and Rivers States which are a testament to your vigilance and effectiveness.
“On June 21st, your men intercepted a significant cache of arms and ammunition in a 1×40 foot container at a Private Bonded Terminal.
“These items concealed using various items such as doors, furniture and plumbing fittings. The Duty-Paid-Value of the container is over Four Billion Naira.
“In another commendable operation on June 29th, your officers intercepted yet another 8×40 foot container en route to a Bonded Warehouse from One Port.
“These containers included over a million bottles of cough syrup with Codeine and millions of tablets of illicit drugs, hundreds of used clothes. The total Duty-Paid-Value of these Nine (9) containers is almost Fourteen Billion Naira.
“These interceptions were not routine seizures. They potentially saved countless Nigerian lives and demonstrated the exceptional skills and dedication of your personnel in protecting our borders.
“These successful operations highlight the importance of international cooperation and intelligence sharing.
“In light of the alarming interception of arms and ammunition destined for for Bonded Terminals, the Committee will be launching a thorough investigation into all illegal activities taking place within the Bonded Terminals and Free Trade Zones across the country.
“We will scrutinise the operations of these facilities to identify and eradicate any illegal businesses and activities. Those found to be non-compliant with regulations will face severe consequences, including the recommendation for closure.
“This decisive actions is imperative to prevent these zones from becoming havens for illicit activities that threatened our national security and economic stability”.
Reacting to questions from members of the Committee, the Comptroller General (CG), NCS, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi said, the Nigerian Customs Service has brought various reforms that has transformed its operations in line with global best practices.
He said, the various measures taken led to increase in revenue generation and reduction in smuggling activities and other economic sabotage activities.
According to him, the NCS has already surpassed its target revenue for the first quarter adding that, it will surpass the N5.079 trillion for the year.
The customs Boss also shed more light on the announcement by the federal government on the lifting of tariff on some selected food items that will be allowed to be brought into the country to address current food inflation.
He said, the lifting of import ban on the selected items was not a licence to bring in banned items into the country.
He said, “There is nothing in that pronouncement that says the extant rules have changed apart from the suspension of the tariff and taxes. Things that are not allowed through the land border have not been allowed by that pronouncement.
“There is nothing in that pronouncement because nothing was said about it. But of there are specific issues or request that will be made from border areas, we can articulate them as input to the Minister. What was released recently ia a product of several months of consultation.
“The objective is for us to address hunger in Nigeria and not to provide a base for smuggling through the land border. So, we have to be very careful in the implementation to ensure we don’t get undesired objective from it”.