The Ogun State 1 Area Command of The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has impounded two long trucks belonging to Dangote Cemtent Factory, Ibese, Ogun State, fully loaded with 1, 764 bags of smuggled foreign rice.

Both trucks have the Dangote Cement logo on them with Ibese written boldly on them.

While one of them has the registration number, ICT-17F-014, the other was unmarked.

- The smuggled bags of rice

The Command’s Comptroller, Bamidele Makinde, while addressing newsmen at the Idi-Iroko border said he could not confirm whether or not the trucks belong to Dangote Cement, saying most of owners of the trucks might be on franchisees of the factory.

Makinde said that each of the two trucks were conveying 882 bags of 50kg foreign parboiled rice along Abeokuta axis when his officers stopped them.

Between the month of May and June 27, he said, a total of 8,417 bag of rice, valued at N131,145,277, were seized by the NCS in Ogun.

He disclosed that the command generated a total sum of NI2, 818,181 from importation and auction sales of petrol intercepted at different locations and exit points to the Republic of Benin during its anti-smuggling operations.

Similarly, a truck load of about 320 cartons (23, 400 pairs) of imported foot wears with an estimated duty paid value of N764,974,800 was also intercepted by the command.

Also, a tanker containing 45,000 litres of adulterated diesel was also impounded from a suspected bunkerer.

- One of the trucks

It was said that illicit drugs and narcotics worth N221, 820, 820 were intercepted by the command within the period under review.

“The cumulative estimated Duty Paid Value (DPV) of all the seizures between the month of May and June, 2022 amounts to One Billion, Two Hundred and Ninety Million, One Hundred and Eight Thousand, Six Hundred and Eight Naira, Zero Kobo only (N1,290,108,608.00),” Makinde said.