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Lagos Airport Customs Impounds $50m From Importers In Six Months - Report

The command advised customs brokers, airline operators and importers to imbibe the habit of making truthful and clear declarations, which must agree with all other documents required for clearance of cargos.

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From January to June 2019, the Nigeria Customs Service attached to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos seized money totalling $50m illegally brought into the country by importers.

The command, in its report, said the seized money had been handed over to the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the presence of the Department of State Services (DSS).

According to the report, the seized money was confiscated from an unnamed company and individuals at various times at the airport, stressing that they were not declared by their owners at the point of entry.

The command advised customs brokers, airline operators and importers to imbibe the habit of making truthful and clear declarations, which must agree with all other documents required for clearance of cargos.

The report partly read, “Customs can only facilitate compliant trade when correct declarations are made, while those with discrepancies are naturally delayed for one correction of DN or the other.”

The command also frowned on the way legitimate and licensed customs brokers sublet jobs to miscreants and louts who have nothing to lose, thereby perpetrating all acts of frauds in order to circumvent revenue.

The report further stated that the command earned a total sum of N29,124,703,283.00 in the first quarter and second quarter of 2019,  as against N22,724,956,128.00 collected from January to June 2018.

The command also seized and detained various items with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N382,220,062.00 for the period under review.

The items allegedly smuggled included (1002) PCS of Air-Force Berets; 152 packages of camouflage inner vest, combat shorts, and camouflage polo shirt; 272 pieces of two way walkie-talkie radios; 59 cartons of tramadol; 79 pairs of camouflage footwear; 43 bags of donkey’s skin; (27) PKGS of complete set of camouflage uniforms, safety belts and rope; (289) PKGS of different makes of drones; among others.

Similarly, many foreign currencies were declared in line with the Federal Government currency policy mandating any person travelling out of the country with amount of money more than $10,000 (or the equivalent in another currency) to declare on Customs Currency Declaration Form (CDF).

The foreign currencies declared included $US98,542,167; 579,205 pounds; 1.7m Euros, among others.