Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Acting Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and Francis Ononiwu, NAFDAC Director of Enforcement and Investigation, who represented his Director General NAFDAC, flanked by top officers of NCS during a press brifing in Lagos on Friday
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The operatives of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ports and Terminal Multiservice Limited (PTML), Lagos, said they have intercepted and seized 20 containers carrying 1600 drums of expired and poisonous tomato concentrates.
The Command said that consignments were seized from importers/ smugglers who falsely declared the goods as Almond Shells.
Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Acting Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), disclosed this on Friday in Lagos during a press brieffing.
He said the seizure aligned with the goals he set for the Nigeria Customs Service under his leadership.
Adeniyi who described the seizure as unprecedented in the history of the command, faulted the audacity of smugglers to bring in such products into the country with intent to evade duty payment and statutory regulatory procedures of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
He said the seizure was processed through three separate single good declarations (SGDs) forms and a testament to customs unwavering commitment to maximally suppress smuggling and its determination to safeguard the lives of Nigerian citizens by intercepting dangerous goods.
According to him, one suspect was arrested in connection with the seizure and has been granted administrative bail while investigation was ongoing.
While warning smugglers on the need to desist, Adeniyi said the 20 falsely declared containers contravened the provisions of sections 228(1) and (2), 55 (c and d), and 233 of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023.
According to him, it also violates Schedule 4, item 14 of the Common External Tariff (CET) 2022-2026.
The Acting CG said: “On August 8, 2023, during a routine examination, our vigilant officers at PTML uncovered a cache of expired tomato concentrate, deemed unsafe for human consumption.
“The audacity of the smugglers to attempt introducing this hazardous product into the Nigerian market is both shocking and disheartening.
“These expired tomato concentrates were concealed within 20 containers, each falsely declared as containing almond shells, all under the auspices of a company identified as Nikecristy Investment Limited. In each container, 80 drums were meticulously arranged, amounting to a total of 1,600 drums. The Duty Paid Value(DPV) of this illegal cargo is a staggering N116,211,725.73.
“The container numbers involved in this illicit operation are as follows: ACLU 2790243, GCNU 1275582, GCNU 1303278, GCNU 1336137, GCNU 1361905, GCNU 1316824, GCNU 1323314, GCNU 1324727, GCNU 1326210, SEGU 3388813, ACLU 2800629, GCLU 13218553, GCNU 1340991, GCNU 1353290, GCNU 1340991, GCNU 1353290, GCNU 1302570, GCNU 1308140, SEGU 3333426, and SEGU 3338351. As of now, all these containers remain in our custody, officially recorded as seizures. We have apprehended one suspect, Mr. Okonkwo Oliver Izunna, who is currently under administrative bail but remains under investigation,” he said.
Francis Ononiwu, NAFDAC Director of Enforcement and Investigation, who represented his Director General described the product as poisonous.
Ononiwu reiterated that the agency would not relent in bringing perpetrators of such dangerous Importation to book.
