Border closure: Joint Border Operation Drill, Zone 3, Seize Dangote trailer, firearms, others

The Joint Border Operation Drill, JBOD, zone 3 of the Nigerian Customs Service and other security agencies in the country, said it has seized a total sum of N53,158,143 worth of goods from smugglers in 5 weeks, including Dangote truck and firearms.

The new Coordinator of JBOD, zone 3, Kwara State command Comptroller Olugboyega Peters revealed this during a press brief at the state command in Ilorin on Thursday.

The custom boss says that the operation caps his near one month resumption of duty in the zonal command of JBOD. Says that the latest hurl comes from its operation code named ‘Exercise Swift Response’.

Giving a breakdown of the seizures made in the operation, Olugboyega said that four single barrel rifle was seized, apart from the Dangote truck and with it, the suspected gun runner has been sent to the appropriate security agency for handling.

Also,1,643 bags of foreign parboiled rice, approximately three trailer loads were intercepted; so were 373 Jerry cans of pms of 25 liters each, 12 Jerry cans of AGO, 32 used vehicles, four bails of second hand clothing and one motorcycle across the four states that made up the zone; Kwara, Kogi, Niger and Benue.

The comptroller further explained that the entire hurl comes to a total of N53.1 million in duty paid value, DPV. The Comptroller further appealed to the public to be more patriotic in the fight against smuggling.

“We will continue to appeal to the patriotic spirit of all Nigerians, especially members of the business communities to see the exercise as an opportunity to further create a conducive environment for local businesses to thrive in the overall interest of national security, well being of the citizen and economic development,” Olugboyega appealed.

He also commented on the hoodlum attack on Kwara Command of the Nigerian Customs Service, saying that the officers showed exceptional courage and gallantary while repelling the hoodlums.

“It is no longer news that during Endsars protest, a criminal attempt was made by hoodlums with the intention to set our office ablaze and loot seized goods. With our resilience, we were able to repel the attack.

” I want to use this medium to commend officers and men of Nigeria Customs Service, command, JBOD and all sister security agencies especially Nigeria Army for exhibiting their professionalism in handling the incident,” Olugboyega said.