From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

 

Men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have invaded Oja’ba and Orita Merin markets in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State, and carted away eight truckloads of rice.

The traders in the markets recounted that Customs officers raided the two markets in the early hours of yesterday and carted away over 2,000 bags of 50kg rice.

The invasion is coming one month after Customs invaded Bodija market and carted away unspecified number of bags of foreign rice.

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Public Relations Officer of Oyo/Osun Customs Command, Kayode Wey, confirmed the raid. According to him, the operation was carried out by Federal Operation Unit (FOU) Zone A.

The operation, he explained, was carried out by the same officers that also raided Bodija Market in Ibadan at night and also took away truckloads of rice barely four weeks ago.

But Wey stated that the Oyo and Osun command of Nigeria Customs Service did not have information about the incident.

Public Relations Officer of Nigeria Customs Service, FOU Zone A, Mr. Theophilus Duniya, who also confirmed the raid, explained that the Customs Service is empowered to carry out such operation wherever they found contrabands.

Chairman of rice and beans vendors in the two markets, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Jamiu, said: “May God have mercy on us. What baffles me is that this kind of operation the Customs Service is carrying out in the southwestern part of the country is not applicable in the North.