The Area Comptroller of Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit, Zone C Owerri, Mohammed Garba, has said that the Unit, on October 31, intercepted a DAF Truck loaded with 11,315 cartons of imported frozen poultry products with Duty Paid Value of N108,624,000.00.
This was said to be barely two weeks after he assumed office as the new Comptroller of NCS, FOU, Zone C.
The vehicle with registration number LND 641 XM was impounded on the Benin axis on the said day and two suspects arrested. The suspects are currently helping Customs with the investigations.
Garba said the truck had conveyed the goods by the novelty simply known as “false bottom method concealment”, which he said was “criminally fashioned by die-hard smugglers to beat the authorities.”
He said, “The seized truck was cleverly partitioned with wood, bolted and knotted as a strategy to avoid being detected by the Customs officials”.
He said that the inner layer of the partitioned truck was stockpiled with the contraband goods while the outer layer of the partitions was carefully arranged to fool the officers.
Garba, who denounced the continued indulgence in smuggling by some Nigerians despite the official sanctions, warned that the Customs would always beat them to their game, warning that poultry products remain prohibited.
