6th July, 2012
By Emma Una/Calabar
The anti-smuggling patrol team of the Customs Area Command for Akwa Ibom and Cross River states has intercepted three trucks conveying over 99,000 litres of stolen diesel by four bunkerers.
The Comptroller of Customs, Cross River and Akwa Ibom States’ Commands, Mr. Mundu H. Mohammed, told P.M.NEWS at the commands’ headquarters in Calabar that the men loaded the diesel into their trucks with registration numbers: Borno XA 782 KDG, Lagos 866 EPE, and Abuja XD 611ABC from drums brought in by wooden boats from the creeks in Nambe Village in Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
He said the trucks and the suspected bunkerers would be handed over to the anti-bunkering task force for prosecution and warned those who are bent on sabotaging the nation’s economy to steer clear of the zone as his men were prepared to fish them out from whatever creeks or sea they carry out their operations in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.
The Comptroller said that the command in its bid to “suppress smuggling and protect the country’s economy from unpatriotic people and economic saboteurs, had made over eight seizures of contraband and prohibited goods in May and June with a total duty paid value of over N20.3 million.”
Mohammed said the special revenue drive embarked upon by the command to improve its revenue profile through blocking of areas of revenue leakages has yielded significant results.
“Leakages resulting from improper customs clearance procedure for goods in the Free Trade Zone in Calabar and Tinapa have been addressed and have yielded tremendous benefits,” he said.
He said the total revenue collected by the command from January to June was N994.6 million.