Customs: Joint Border Operations yield 65 seizures of various contrabands

By Steve Oni, Ilorin

The Joint Border Operations Drill (JBOD) Sector 3, with headquarters in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, led by the Nigerian Customs Service, has made 65 seizures of different items between October and November 2020.

This was revealed at a press briefing in Ilorin on Monday by the new JBOD Coordinator, Comptroller Olugboyega Peters.

The seizures, according to him, include four single barrel riffles, 1,643 bags of foreign par boiled rice (above 3 trailers),
373 Jerri cans of PMS of 25liters, 12 Jerri cans of AGO, 32 used vehicles, four bales of secondhand clothing and one motorcycle, with a total duty paid value of N53 million, adding that one suspect was arrested.

He said: “We will continue to appeal to the patriotic spirit of all Nigerians, especially members of the business communities to see the exercise of JBOD 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 citizens and economic development, including creation of job opportunities, reduction of crime rate and other social vices.

“We shall continue to wage war against smugglers. Every effort or tactic exhibited by them to beat security checks of sector 3 operatives will remain fruitless, as every trick used by smugglers will be uncovered due to our high level of intelligence, systematic monitoring and mechanism put in place to track down these economic saboteurs and their sponsors.

“I want to further reiterate that the current administration has zero tolerance for corruption and revenue leakages in all its ramifications and the Joint Border Operations Sector 3 under my watch is committed to enforcing same. The Sector will continue to reinvigorate strategies that will enhance our performance.

“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 particularly commend officers and men of Nigeria Customs Service, JBOD and all sister security agencies especially Nigeria Army for exhibiting their professionalism in handling the incident of attack on our office in Ilorin..

“I’m happy to report that the aftermath of the EndSars Protest was a commendation letter sent to us by Comptroller General of Customs and his able management team for exhibiting such gallantry, in terms of excellent performance, integrity, high ethical standard, good conduct and unalloyed commitment to the service.”

Comptroller Peters, however, reiterated that the priority of JBOD “remains keeping our borders safe from any inimical activity that would compromise our national interests, uniformity with the international trade agreement and by extension our national security. We therefore thank all Nigerians especially the local business community for their continuous support. We also appreciate media houses in Kwara State for their balance reportage.”
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