Three weeks after showcasing some seized goods and parading some illegal immigrants, the Joint Border Patrol Team Sector 3 has seized 1,274 bags of foreign parboiled rice.
Coordinator of the team, Comptroller Olugboyega Peters, stated on Tuesday that the team, in one night, intercepted 13 pick-up vans, all loaded with smuggled rice.
That brings the bags foreign parboiled rice seized to 1,040 with a Duty Paid Value of N19.448m.
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The coordinator further explained that within 18 days, the team recorded 43 more seizures from Mokwa–Jebba, Gwanara, Okuta and other axes of the sector.
According to him, in the axis, the team seized 23 units of used vehicles, 1,274 bags of foreign par boiled rice, one locally-made gun, a pistol and eight cartridges, nine drums of diesel, 242 jerry cans of petrol, and seven motorcycles, seven 25-litre cans of groundnut oil.
His words, “The total DPV of the seized items is N61,002,800. Five suspects were apprehended in connection with the local pistol and cartridges, which have been handed over to the police.
“Also, some illegal immigrants were apprehended and handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service.”
He added that trans-border crimes, such as proliferation of small arms and light weapons, human and drug trafficking, banditry and terrorism were among security challenges that must be checked.
“The fight against smuggling in the North Central axis will continue to receive a sustained momentum that will lead to more seizures and enforcement of Federal Government’s directives towards curtailing such activities.
“The border closure was not meant to witch-hunt members of any community or individual, but to encourage local farmers, control the inflow of arms and ammunition, illegal immigration, halting the flow of illicit drugs and other prohibited goods in and out of the country,” Peters noted.
Warning smugglers in the North Central region to desist henceforth, he said the synergy among the various security agencies would be sustained at the borders to aggressively tackle insecurity, trafficking and smuggling.
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