Smuggling and economic sabotage remain a major threat to Nigeria’s economy, but the Nigeria Customs Service in Kwara State says it is tightening the noose on offenders, recording seizures valued at over one-point-two billion naira within one month.
The Kwara Area Command says the enforcement success followed a renewed crackdown under its new leadership.
The Nigeria Customs Service, Kwara Area Command, says its officers carried out a series of intelligence-led operations across key border routes and highways in the state, leading to multiple seizures of prohibited and smuggled goods.
The Acting Area Controller, Deputy Comptroller Najeem Ogundeyi, said the seizures were made in strict compliance with the Customs Act 2023 and with the backing of the Comptroller-General of Customs.
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Items intercepted include hundreds of bales of second-hand clothing and sacks of used bags along the Ogbomosho–Eyenkorin axis, as well as thousands of litres of illegally transported Premium Motor Spirit recovered from patrol bases near the Bukuro border.
Further interceptions were recorded at the Okuta border area, where officers seized foreign parboiled rice, alongside used tyres along the Lagos–Jeba Expressway. Three vehicles, including two new-model sport utility vehicles and a Mercedes-Benz, were also impounded and are under investigation.
Deputy Comptroller Ogundeyi warned that Kwara State will no longer provide a safe haven for smugglers, urging residents to support the Service with credible intelligence. He assured that enforcement operations will remain firm, transparent, and in line with human rights standards.
(Editor: Ada Ononye)
