The Kwara Command of the Customs Area Command has made a seizure of twenty-three different items valued at thirty-four-point-seven million naira, surpassing twenty-three-point-six million of the duty paid value of seizures made in the first quarter of last year.

“The anti-smuggling measures put in place in the Command have yielded astronomical successes of Twenty Three (23) seizures of different items. These include: 873 kegs of PMS of 25liters each which is about 21, 825 liters of PMS; 6 units of used vehicles of different types; 451 Bags of foreign parboiled rice (50kg each); 23 Bales of secondhand clothing; 1 Motorcycle used in conveying PMS.

“The cumulative Duty Paid Value (DPV) for all the above seizures is Thirty Four Million, Seven Hundred and Ninety Seven Thousand Twenty Naira (N34, 797, 020.00). This surpasses the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of seizures made in the first quarter of last year 2022 with Twenty Five Million Six Hundred and Twenty Eight Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty Naira (N 25, 628, 520.00),” he said.

The Controller of the Command, Comptroller Kehinde Dehinde Ilesanmi, who disclosed this during a press briefing at the Headquarters of the Command in the state, explained that the Command also earned three-point-five billion naira as against seven-hundred-and-seventy-nine-point-nine million naira realised same period last year.

“The Command under my watch, from January to March, 2023 (First Quarter 2023) have collected the sum of Three Billion Five Hundred and Sixty-Six Million Nine Hundred and Ninety Seven Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty Seven Naira Twelve Kobo (N 3,566,997,587.12). A comparative analysis with the preceding year 2022 indicates that we have surpasses revenue collected same period last year 2022 with Seven Hundred and Seventy Nine Million Nine Hundred and Ninety Two Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty Naira Sixty Four Kobo N779,992,680.64.”

The newly deployed Comptroller read the riot act to the smugglers and would-be smugglers in the state to keep off or face the wrath of the law.

“I want to use this medium to warn smugglers and would-be smugglers to keep away from the length and breadth of Kwara Command or be ready to face the law in its full wrath. The Command under my leadership will not negotiate the CGC’s zero tolerance to acts of economic sabotage. Smuggling in whatever form is an act of economic sabotage and the Command would ensure that it pursues smugglers to their trenches.”

Comptroller Ilesanmi, who appealed for the cooperation of all stakeholders with the Command in the discharge of their duties in the state, added that the land border in Kwara remains closed.