The operations yielding the seizures were carried out between January and February.
The seized items include 16,675 litres of petrol packed in 643×25L Jerry cans and three × 200L drums; 20×50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice; and one used V/Wagon Golf with a big reconstructed fuel tank.
The Adamawa/Taraba Area Controller of the NCS, Salisu Kazaure Abdullahi who addressed newsmen on the seizures, said his men seized the items from smugglers operating on the border of Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon.
He decried the activities of smugglers who said have remained unrelenting in smuggling of food and fuel products from Nigeria into neighbouring Cameroun.
He, however, expressed the resolve of the customs to stop the smugglers, adding that cross-border trade has become due to the high prices these items command neighbouring countries like Cameroon, Togo, and the Benin Republic.
He said, ” We want to unequivocally tell the smugglers that the more they change tactics, the more we change our own and the truth will always prevail over falsehood.
The fuel smuggling syndicates are stubborn and because they make so much money from smuggling the product out of the country, they work to maintain the illicit business at all costs. This is as a result of high fuel demand and high prices in neighbouring countries like Cameroon, Togo, and Benin Republic.”
He assured however that the NCS is continually reviewing its strategies and cracking down on the smugglers’ food and petroleum products through the borders of the two states.
