Speaking while briefing newsmen in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday, Comptroller of the command, Iheanacho Ernest Ojike, said the command also recovered 40 cartons of foreign Spaghetti, 50 bales of secondhand clothing, 28 cartons of Diclofenac tablets of 50mg and 10 Jerry Cans of vegetable oils with total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of fourteen million, seven hundred and ninety-two thousand, four hundred naira.
He further disclosed that “the seized PMS would be auctioned to the public with the expectation of generating eight million, one hundred and seventy-eight thousand, one hundred eighty-three (N8, 178, 183) and will be paid to the coffers of the Federal Government.
“The team was able to generate twenty-five million, eight hundred and forty-seven thousand, six hundred and eleven naira (N25, 847, 611) in June, which is 67.6 per cent increase as compared to the previous month of May”
Meanwhile, the Comptroller of the National Coordinator Operation WHIRLWIND, Hussien Ejibunu,
in a separate briefing in Birnin Kebbi, said a giant stride was made by operatives of
Operation Whirlwind Zone D’ axis with the seizures of PMS products in Sokoto Area Command.
He said, “I also displayed another huge seizure to the general public that the operation has already disrupted and dismantled the network of cartels/smugglers of Premium Motor Spirit nationwide as the operation is taking place
simultaneously across our national borders.
“Let me re-emphasise that this is a continuous operation until we stamp out the perpetrators of the smuggling and diversion of petroleum products across the country.
“This operation is coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser with petroleum regulatory authority NMDPRA and other law enforcement agencies.
” Today, we have another seizure of =661= Six Hundred and Sixty-One Kegs of PMS, with some containing thirty and forty litres of products each, also another Fifteen drums of PMS, with each drum containing Two Hundred litres each, which translates into Seventy-Nine Thousand Five Hundred litres of PMS with a DPV of Fifty Five Million Seven Hundred and Twenty-Nine Thousand Five Hundred naira only. The interception was made across Kebbi and Sokoto States, respectively.”
He further said one filling station was also sealed off and handed over to the regulatory agency NMDPRA for further investigation.
He said, “It is worth noting that the operatives are in daily contact with our Control Room in Abuja which is being manned by NCS officers and NMDPRA staff, where daily truck out to every location in the country is monitored to ensure compliance with the regulatory authority’s rules on trucking, discharging and even dispensing of the product, so that issues of diversion are equally tackled by the operatives”
He however urged members of the cartels to re-think and go into legitimate business, saying the Nigerian Customs Service will go after them as economic saboteurs, as there is no place for their illegal activities
