Anti-smuggling: Customs seeks support of border communities

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has appealed to residents in border communities to support its activities in flushing out smugglers in the country.

The Public Relations Officer of Customs, Deputy Comptroller Joseph Attah in an exclusive interview the Service had observed that some smugglers run to border communities to hide when pursed by Customs operatives.

The Comptroller General of

Customs (CGC), Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) had earlier this year raised multiple concerns about the complicity of border communities saying some take in smugglers when they are being pursued by Customs operatives.

He sounded a note of warning to those communities after he announced the killing of some Customs operatives in the Lagos-Ogun axis and other parts of the country by smugglers.

Reiterating this, the PRO, Mr Attah called for the support of Nigerians especially the border community dwellers to see Customs officers as their friends.

He said, “Our experience has been that smugglers under pursuit run into them and instead of them to expose the smugglers, they form a ring around them, and kind of protect smugglers.

“Some of them even go as far as trying to attack Customs operatives. So it is the case of protecting your enemy and fighting your friend.

“I use this opportunity to call on fellow Nigerians to see smuggling as a crime and help Customs to fight it,” Attah said.

On the effort by Customs to rid the country of imported harmful and illicit drugs, Attah said the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A in Ikeja, Lagos has been making a lot of seizures of cannabis sativa popularly known as Indian Hemp.

“In collaboration with the National Food And Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), as we speak, over N14 billion worth of such drugs are being destroyed,” he said.

The Customs PRO said the more such drugs are gotten rid of, the less access people will have them.

On the synergy with other security agencies to prohibit the import of arms and ammunition, NCS said there has been lot of seizures of guns, ammunitions and security camouflages.

“Such synergy and collaboration is boosting our capacity to confront dangerous smugglers and bring them to submission,” Attah noted.