Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The Kano/Jigawa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has impounded two cows for aiding and abetting smuggling activities along Maigatari border town, in Jigawa State.
Customs Area Controller, Alhaji Nazir Ahmed, made the disclosure yesterday, during a media briefing on the activities of the area command in November. Parading the animals carrying tones of rice at the Bompai premises of the Command, the Custom’s boss said the arrest of the animals and the consignment they were carrying followed intelligence report on a new method of smuggling bags of rice through the bush paths .
He said one of factors encouraging the use of cows for the illegality is the fact that cows could successfully pass through routes and paths that vehicles and motorcycles dare not pass.
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“The cows also look innocent; you would think they are carrying the farm produce of one innocent farmer, not knowing they are conveying contraband from outside into Nigeria” he said.
He estimated that several trips of the cows equal a trailer load of rice, which represented a huge and devastating harm to the country’s economy.
The Customs boss also regretted that youths of Babaura town, a border town in Jigawa State, have resorted to the ugly habit of aiding and abetting smuggling activities by use of their motorcycles to ferry in the bags of rice across the borders
He appealed to members of the traditional institution to counsel their youths to desist from smuggling, and warned that the service will not entertain any request to drop the charge once they are arrested.
The area controller said in the last one month, they have impounded a total of 3,079 bags of rice, 770 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 17 bales of second hand clothing, 40 bags of foreign sugar and 101 jerry cans of foreign vegetable oil.