5 Customs officers dismissed over firearms proliferation

Five officers of the Nigeria Customs Service have been dismissed from service for their alleged involvement in illegal importation of fire arms into the country.

At the time of their arrest all five officers were attached to Lagos area.

Operatives of the Nigeria Customs service in January 2017 intercepted a 20 ft container load of arms. When it was searched a total of 661 automatic pump action rifles which were carefully concealed behind steal doors were recovered.

Eight persons including five officers of the service, the clearing agent, the driver of the truck and his conductor were arrested.

Soon after the seizure was made, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) ordered a full scale investigation into the circumstance surrounding the illegal importation.

The Public Relations officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Joseph Attah, who made this disclosure, said that the five officers were dismissed at the end of the trial.

Attah, a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, said that after their dismissal, the five officers and their accomplices were arraigned in an open court.

Attah who gave detailed account of the achievement of the service in the last one year said that the service raked in a total sum of of N1,123 trillion in 2017.

He said similarly, the service through its reinvigorated anti-smuggling operations in 2017 also raked in a total of 4,492, assorted seizures with a duty paid value of N12,777,321,405.74.

He said: “207 suspects were arrested in connection with these seizures. Apart from the difficulties which offenders and men of the service face in enforcing the laws of the land, even when the seizures are made, managing them become even more challenging.

“While perishable items, such as frozen poultry products and another dangerous items are immediately destroyed, others have to wait for judicial process of court condemnation before they are dispossessed off in line with the law.