Customs seizes 7 containers of cutlasses, others at Apapa port

The Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has intercepted seven containers comprising 12,000 pieces of cutlass and matchete, expired pharmaceutical, 4,129 packages of frozen hen and 368 jumbo bales of used second hand clothings at the Apapa port.

Controller of the command, Comptroller Babatunde Olomu who disclosed this at a press briefing in Lagos on Friday said the items with a duty paid value of N292million fall short of the import prohibition guidelines from entering the country.

He said, “On Thursday, 18 July 2024, the command seized 2x40ft containers carrying twelve thousand (12,000) pieces of cutlass and machete; 2x40ft carrying four thousand, one hundred and twenty-nine (4,129) packages of frozen hen; 1x40ft container carrying three hundred and sixty-eight (368) jumbo bales of used second hand clothing; and 1x40ft container of expired pharmaceutical.

“The duty paid value (DPV) of these seized items stood at two hundred and ninety-two million, two hundred and forty-four thousand,eight hundred and fifty-seven naira (292,244,857.00).

“It is pertinent to note that this type of importation is against schedule 3 of the revised import prohibition list of the Common External Tariff (CET) and violate section 233 of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023.”

Comptroller Olomu stated that the seizures were made following a combination of intelligence and diligent enforcement in ensuring that no consignment exits Apapa Port or any terminal under the command without undergoing proper examination.

He further added that as a working principle, the command will continually sustain and improve on trade facilitation and maximum revenue collection without compromising the enforcement of its extant laws as they pertain to false declaration, concealment, under declaration and under valuation.