The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone C, has reported the interception of contraband goods with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of ₦510.92 million between July 15th and September 15th, 2024.
This zone, which encompasses the six states in the South-South geopolitical zone and the five states in the Southeast geopolitical zone, made the announcement in a statement by Jerry Attah, Public Relations Officer for NCS, Zone C, on Wednesday.
Comptroller Michael Ugbagu of NCS Zone C disclosed these figures while presenting the seized contraband to regulatory agencies at the Government Warehouse in Edo. In addition to the seized goods, the zone recovered ₦25.57 million from demand notices issued for various infractions, bringing the total to ₦536.49 million for the reviewed period.
The intercepted goods include:
- 49,699 sachets of various tramadol brands
- 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine lacking NAFDAC registration
- 1,015 sacks of dry donkey meat and skin
- 75 jumbo bales of second-hand clothing
- 463 cartons of foreign spaghetti
- 269 pieces of used pneumatic tyres
- 56 cartons of smuggled foreign tomato paste
Ugbagu highlighted the significant concern regarding the interception of tramadol and cough syrups with codeine, which, if not seized, could have posed serious health risks to youths. Most of these items were intercepted along the Ewu-Okada/Benin expressways based on credible intelligence.