The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it seized 174,015 litres of petroleum products valued at about N27 million in 2017.

According to Customs spokesman, Joseph Attah, who spoke on Monday in Abuja, the NCS had been doing a lot to ensure that products that should not be exported were not, while ensuring that prohibited goods are not smuggled into the country.

“In the case of petroleum products, the statistics show that from January 2017 to January 2018, a total of 174,015 litres have been seized across the Customs commands.

“Further breakdown shows that within this period, 81,270 litres of petroleum products were seized in Seme border, 69,150 litres in West Martine Command, 10,000 litres in Federal Operations Unit, Zone D, that is the Northeast. “In Sokoto, 1,775 litres were seized, 10,500 litres in Ogun, 1,320 litres in Adamawa/Taraba, making a total of 174,015 litres with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N27,755,492.

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“This is the value of what have been seized across the country by NCS in our efforts to ensure that petroleum products are not smuggled out of the country,” Attah said. He said there had been a lot of anti-smuggling strategies by the Service to ensure that illicit transaction on goods were curbed, adding that in February, the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), dissolved the Compliance Team and constituted a Strike Force to operate under a new mandate.

Attah said the idea was to ensure the operation of anti-smuggling team doesn’t impede trade facilitation. 

He added that this was done in such a way that those smugglers who must have escaped the watch and catch of Customs officers at the border lines would not get away with the Strike Force.