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Massive seizures of rice in Oyo

By on December 23, 2013

As the festive period approaches the Oyo/Osun Customs Command  of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has been recording  massive seizures of rice in its daily operations. When Sunday Vanguard visited the Command, it was observed that  its  ware house was filled to the brim with seizures, mostly rice.

While some bags of rice were seen in the open space, others were  inside long trucks with which the stocks were intercepted, even as more seizures of rice were being brought into the premises. The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the Command, DC Oteri Richard, speaks on the  strategies mapped out by his team to tackle the menace.

Few months after the interception of 56,750 rounds of live ammunition, your Command is in the news again for massive seizures of rice.  What strategies did you use to achieve this?

To start with, we can not reveal our operational strategies but the reality is that our work currently is intelligence driven, which is made possible through the initiative of the Comptroller General of Customs Dikko Inde. We are determined to reduce incidence of smuggling to the barest minimum, as the current management has provided us with the wherewithal to accomplish this task.

This is the season of rice and we have already renewed our strategy to tackle the menace in rice smuggling and to stamp out smuggling of other contra-band items in the Command, while urging genuine importers and exporters to engage in legitimate trades capable of promoting economic growth and development, rather than sabotaging government’s efforts in growing local industries.

For instance, within this period we recorded over 11,175(50kg bags) seizures of rice with the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over N123.4million and more seizures of rice are still coming into the Command.
Also, before now within just one month, we recorded seizures of 2,716 bags of rice, with DPV of N30.7million concealed with charcoal in a long truck to escape security checks.

Before now, Oyo/Osun was not known for recording massive seizures. What measures did you put in place to revive the Command?

Administratively, the execution of anti-smuggling activities in the Command has eight outposts, which include Odo, Orita, Eruwa, Saki, Igbeti, Iseyin, Igbojaiye and Igbokoko. In view of the porous nature of the borders, these outposts are policed with effective security surveillance and patrols by eight teams namely Team A-G and the Crack Squad.

Aside from this, other officers are strategically located within the operational ambience to block all loopholes within the Command. This has impacted positively in our operations in 2013, in terms of revenue generation and seizures.

For example, from January to November 2013, we realised over N13.8billion revenue, as against N11.1billion generated the same period in 2012, showing 28 per cent increase of the revenue collection of last year with N2.7billion difference.

The Command also recorded outstanding performance in duty payment on imported vehicles. As a result of the aggressive enlightenment campaign, a total of 1,556 vehicles paid duty of N154.2million in 2013, as against 1000 vehicles that paid duty of N74.5million in 2012. This shows that 556 more vehicles paid duty in 2013, with a huge difference of N79.5million over 2012, which is 51 per cent increase against last year.

Can you give us details of your enforcement activities in the Command?

Our new enforcement strategy has paid off greatly with a total of 252 seizures and DPV of N536.6million.  Most remarkable of these seizures include, 56.750 pieces of live cartridges and the ford bus with registration number XD577GWA used as means of conveyance was arrested along Igboho road in Saki axis of the Command, and the ammunitions were handed over to the police.

Other seizures include 40ft container load of rice concealed with charcoal, refrigerated truck loaded with 300bags of rice, two truck-loads concealed with bags of groundnut shells, saw dusts, yam flours and bags of dried cassava tubers. Others were 36,444 cartons of frozen products with a DPV of N218.2million, 209 assorted vehicles were also intercepted between the months of January to November 2013, with DPV of N118.6million.

How many suspects did your Command arrest?

We made several arrests and it is pertinent to mention that the Command also arrested suspects with fake documents for smuggled vehicles within the same period. Investigation into this case is still on-going to uncover the syndicate specialised in forging Customs documents. This will help in reducing the incidence of smuggling imported vehicles and other forms of economic sabotage within the Command.

What is your expectation for 2014?

The Command is poised in its resolve to continue building on the achievements so far made in the areas of revenue generation, anti-smuggling feats and policing the borders. This is expedient especially now that the current management has made the Service a place of pride and a force to reckon with in modern day customs world

 

 

 

[Vanguard]