Hardship: 400 bags of beans set to be smuggled out of Nigeria intercepted by Customs

The Nigeria Customs Service, Seme Area Command, said it intercepted 400 bags of beans worth N61.4 million.

The Custom Area Controller in charge of the Command, Timi Bomodi, disclosed this in a statement, saying the bags of beans were stockpiled in a warehouse at one of the exit corridors at the border.

“In light of our present economic realities, where massive food shortages have been reported across the country, and in line with the directive to ensure grains are not exported illegally, the Command made a seizure of a truckload of beans, totaling 400 bags with a duty paid value of N61.4 million stockpiled in a warehouse at one of the exit corridors in the border,” Bomodi said.

According to the statement, the items have since been deposited in the government warehouse for safekeeping and eventual sale to the public.

The statement said the Command was given N7.87bn as a target for 2024.

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“This represents an increase of over 400 per cent when compared to the target of 2023.

“In January 2024, the command collected N643m while in February, N518m was collected making a total of N1.160bn. This represents about 88 per cent of the total expected revenue of the Command.”

The statement added that between January and February 2024, the Command successfully made 168 interceptions which resulted in the seizure of some contrabands.

“These contrabands include 2,193 bags of rove equivalent to three trailers, 81,930 liters of petroleum motor spirit equivalent to three tankers, nine vehicles, 1425 general merchandise, 265 parcels of cannabis sativa and other narcotics, 149 packs of codeine and 2 locally manufactured guns.”