Seme Customs Command Boosts Anti Smuggling Profile
Seme Customs Command Boosts Anti Smuggling Profile
By Okezie Nnadi
showcasing seizes illicit drugs
The Nigeria Customs Service, Seme Border Customs Command has boosted its anti smuggling profile with notable seizures recorded between January and August 2023 as
Six Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty Nine (9500) 50kg bags of rice equivalent to sixteen (16) trailer loads of foreign parboiled rice with Duty Paid Value of N312, 242, 064.93k.
13, 835 x 30 liters Jerrycans of Premium Motor Spirit equivalent to 415, 050 liters or 13 petroleum tankers with Duty Paid Value of 738,276, 461k.
15,389 of General Merchandise Goods.
Hard Drugs and Narcotics:
41 parcels of Cannabis Sativa
4,900 Tablets 225mg of Tramadol Tamol-X
3,600 Tablets 225mg Tramadol Royal 225
157 Tablets of Heineken Ecstacy
864 Packs of Cigarette.
In the same vein, Officers and Men of the Command acting on credible intelligence intercepted One
intercepted One Thousand Three Hundred and Sixty Four (1,364) 30 Liters Jerrycans of Premium Motor Spirit equivalent to forty thousand eight hundred (40,800) litres over one Tanker Load and with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of (N24, 663, 355) only at the early hours of Friday 8th September, 2023 along the Badagry Coast
The Duty Paid Value for items seized for the period January to 8th Septmeber 2023 is One Billion, Eight Hundred and Twenty Seven Million, Three Hundred and Sixty Two Thousand, Six Hundred and Nineteen Niara (1, 827, 362, 619. 00)
Hence, in line with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) dictate of encouraging its personnel, the Officers and Men of the Command who were involved in the seizures of fake Six million USD ($6,000,000) currency, Fifteen (15) fake international passports and Ten (10) Driver’s license, and that of Donkey skins in January, 2023 have been commended by the Ag. Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi.
The Controller, Dera Nnadi presented the Commendation letters and Congratulatory letters from the AG. CGC and Command to the beneficiaries at this event. 18 officers in all were given letters of Commendation by both the Ag. CGC, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and the Seme Command Area Controller, Compt. Dera Nnadi for their doggedness in putting their all in line for self and Country.
In an interview with the team leader of the recipients and Leader of the Team that intercpeted the 4, 800 liters of PMS in one fell swoop, SC Emeka David Ashinze, who is also the OC Operations of the Command said the CG has wired them to do more for the service, with the high moral which comes with such Commendation.
According to SC Ashinze, ” I encouraged, my moral is high. I feel very honoured that the CGC could give us this kind of recognition in our lifetime. This will further encourage us to keep performing, doing greater things for the Service,” he said.
He added that it has not been easy, even as nobody is a master of it all. “We’re still learning on the job, sometimes we make mistakes and get corrected by our superiors and then we challenge ourselves to keep doing better.”
On the risk assessment of their day to day operation and what has been their motivating factor, knowing full well that some of their peers in some other Units and Commands are either killed or maimed in the line of service to the NCS, SC Ashinze says, “yes, it’s not that sometimes we don’t get scared but the bottom line is service to one’s father land and understanding that Smuggling activities if not checked would one day affect my own children, so it’s me fighting not only for my country but for myself too. So it drives me, it makes me feel that if I contribute my own quota and every other person does, Nigeria will be a better place for us all. Sometimes we get scared but the motivating factor is that we are doing it for Nigeria,” Ashinze said.
He continued by saying that sometimes the Smugglers try to play smart by bargaining to be left off the hook, offering mouthwatering offers, trying to lure and distract you, especially in monetary terms but we are resolute, we are determined, I mean, this is one of such, only God knows where this will take us to. When you know that people are watching us and the rewarder is also there, it encourages us,” he said.
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