The Nigerian Customs Service, Seme Command, said it made a total of 1,294 seizures with a duty paid value of N788.19 million in 2020.
This was revealed in a statement signed by the spokesman of the command Hussaini Abdullahi, released on Monday.
He said the items recovered include; 7,667 bags of foreign parboiled rice (50kg each), three bags of sugar (50kg each), 1,080,875 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, 127 units of vehicles, 1,514 cartons of frozen poultry products, 646 hard drugs packets, 166 parcels of cannabis Sativa and 31,868 general merchandise goods.
The agency added that 15 suspects were also arrested in connection with different criminal activities during the period under review. Some of the suspects, according to the NCS, have been released while others are facing trial in court.
The command also noted that no major revenue has been generated since the Federal Government policy on partial border closure, but however, a total of N 32,196,232.55 has been remitted into the federation account as revenue for the fiscal year of 2020 which was gotten from the auction sales of seized PMS and other perishable items.
“It is pertinent to note that since the pronouncement of the Federal Government policy on partial border closure, the command’s major revenue sources have not been active; hence the only alternative source is fees collected from the auction sales of seized PMS and other perishable items.
“The command remitted the sum of N32,196,232.55 into the federation account as revenue for the fiscal year 2020.
“With the recent pronouncement by the Federal Government on reopening of borders, the command is committed to implement every directive of the Federal Government on the new operational guidelines and ensure the revenue base of the command is projected and trade is facilitated,” the statement read.