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Lagos Market Invaded By Custom Officers In Search Of Rice

Published

8 years ago

October 12, 2016

The operatives of the Nigeria Custom Service have reiterated their commitment towards the restriction of smuggling as they invade market to confiscate illegal items.

Officials of the Nigeria Customs Service have stormed some markets in Lagos in search of smuggled rice.

The action was a swift response to an intelligence report on the activities of smugglers who had successfully crossed the borders with their merchandise. Their efforts led to the seizure of about six trailer load of rice from shops at the Iddo Railway Terminus.

Some of the rice dealers, who spoke to a Punch correspondent, complained that they bought the rice from people who brought them into the markets and had no way of knowing whether it was smuggled or not.

The owner of a shop where the NCS men reportedly seized 5,000 bags of rice was said to have collapsed and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

“The value of rice seized from her shop is over N60m and she took a loan from the bank for the business,” one of the dealers, who pleaded anonymity, told a correspondent.

The source said, “They swooped on the markets in the afternoon, brandishing guns. They locked up the shops and went away, only to come back in the middle of the night, around 2am to break into the shops and cart away all the bags of rice they found there. They came back to cart away more rice.

“Women are the ones selling in the markets, the Customs are supposed to be at the borders to prevent smuggled rice from coming into the country, but they allowed the rice to come in, only to come harassing traders with guns. We are pleading with them to return the rice to the traders.”

When consulted, the spokesperson for the NCS, Mr. Wale Adeniyi, said the organisation was empowered by law to impound any product suspected to be smuggled wherever such product could be found.