A truck belong to Dangote has been impounded in Adamawa state by the Nigerian Custom for smuggling 150 bags of rice.
Kamardeen Olumoh, Comptroller of Customs, Adamawa/Taraba command, paraded the truck to newsmen in Yola yesterday. “One Dangote truck carrying one hundred and fifty bags of foreign rice was intercepted along Mayo-Belwa road on the last day of the year”, he stated.
“The driver escaped but we are sure that Dangote being a responsible corporate entity will identify and apprehend the driver and hand him over to us for prosecution”, he said.
Comptroller Olumoh further disclosed other seizures made by the command, including rice, used clothing and petroleum products with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over N59 million.
Giving a breakdown of seizures during the preceding year, 2018, the Comptroller said, “The command was able to make sixty-one seizures which were mainly foreign rice totalling 1740 bags.
“Used vehicles, second hand clothing and 21270 litres of petroleum products with a Duty Paid Value of N59,781,006.81.
“Three suspects are being tried in relation to the smuggling offences”.
He however noted that the command’s revenue generation for the year was below expectation; and blamed the shortfall to insecurity and flooding within the command.
“The command generated N168,294,227.83 from January to December 2018 as against N186,113,181.28 generated in 2017.
“However, the amount fell short of the revenue target of N197,301,635.98 for the year in review.
“This can be attributed to challenges faced by officers and men of the command which include, the current state of insurgency in the region, sectarian situation in the Republic of Cameroon and recurring communal clashes in both Adamawa and Taraba states”, he stated
