Smugglers Use Caskets, Cylinders to Bring in Rice, Says Customs
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Wednesday said the closure of the border has forced many smugglers to now adopt new ways of remaining in trade.
The Service said this was by using caskets and gas cylinders to bring in rice into the country.
Customs Public Relations Officer, Mr. Joseph Attah, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the smugglers involved in this have resorted to use of unapproved routes to bring the items.
According to him, the smuggled goods are usually concealed to bring them into the country.
According to NAN report, Attah said, “People often ask where were Customs operatives when contraband goods entered the country without being stopped.
“We have seen a situation where rice is smuggled using gas cylinders or a situation where a spare tyre is used. The tyre is perforated and rice is loaded inside and when you open the booth you see what is supposed to be a tyre.
“If you do not have a tip-off, you are not likely to know that inside that spare tyre are 10 or 15 mudus (measures) of foreign rice.
“Another circumstance, smugglers use casket that is used to carry a corpse to either smuggle rice or petrol. They sometimes load petrol in jerrycans and put it inside a casket, wrapped in such a way that you think is carrying a dead body.
“A situation like this, if you don’t have intelligence, you wouldn’t know. For instance, without a tip-off, it is unlikely as a human being to accost a vehicle carrying the casket with a supposed dead body and request for such to be opened.
“If people with all these tricks succeed and escape, their smuggled items are what you find in shops, markets, and houses.”
It would be recalled that ECOWAS Heads of States and Governments have set up a committee to study the closure of the Nigerian land borders.
The decision was taken at the ongoing 33rd African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia based on concerns raised by members.
In a statement by the Presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, the decision was part of the resolutions reached at the meting which was chaired by President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kabore about three weeks ago.
Another meeting where the issue of closed borders was discussed was chaired by ECOWAS Chairman and Niger Republic’s President, Mahamadou Issoufou with President Muhammadu Buhari in attendance.
Foreign Affairs’ Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, was said to have told newsmen that the meeting lasted for about three hours.
According to the statement, the report will be presented to the ECOWAS Heads of States and Governments for deliberation.
Part of the statement said, ‘‘the President of Burkina Faso is charged with undertaking a full study of the situation, make a report and then we take it from there”.
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