The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, said it lost four of its officials to smugglers in 2022.
The acting Controller of the unit, Deputy Comptroller Hussein Ejibunu, disclosed this in a news conference yesterday in Lagos.
Ejibunu also said that the unit arrested 176 suspected smugglers during the period under review.
He said that the unit during the year under review secured seven convictions, charged 14 to court, noting that the cases were at various stages of investigation and prosecution.
Ejibunu stated that seven suspects were in detention.
He said that two suspects were handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), while one suspect was handed over to the Nigerian Police with 151 on administrative bail.
He noted that the unit during the period executed its core mandates without fear or favour in the six states of the South-West namely: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states.
Ejibunu added that even in the face of resistance, attacks and tricks in the mode of concealments, they were duty bound to carry out their responsibilities.
“This unit also prevented loss of government revenue as its assigned position of being a layer of check uncovered attempts at evading duties.
“We recovered the discovered shortfalls through Issuance of demand notices (DN) and these were done at the expense of our lives placing national interest ahead of any narrow or personal gain,” he said.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
