18th August, 2018
Smugglers of second-hand clothes and other banned goods plying the Seme border route between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin have been warned to desist from the illegal trade.
The newly re-deployed Customs Commander in Seme border, Comptroller Muhammed Uba on Friday vowed to seize all second-hand clothes smuggled into the country through the Seme border.
He advised smugglers to desist from the illegal trade in the area or be made to pay for such illegality.
Uba gave the warning in an interview in Lagos.
He said the activities of the smugglers were outright breach of the laws, adding that the Federal Government was losing so much revenue from economic sabotage.
“Government formulates rules and regulations for the well-being of the citizens and the growth of the nation, but when this is threatened, we would have to run after those involved.
“If, however, for non-patriotic reason an individual or group of individuals decide to perpetrate this heinous crime, then we will not mind losing our sleep to bring them to book.
“We will continue to go after the smugglers and intercept illegal goods until the society is cleaned of these bad eggs.
“I want to remind the public to shun second hand clothes as they are banned by the government for health reasons’’, Uba said.
The customs commander further said: “anything that is banned, we will seize and forfeit to the Federal Government’’.
He said the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) gave personnel of the service the right to patrol freely on land, air as well as border areas.
Ubah said the command would step up efforts to fortify the Seme border with a view to mitigating the activities of smugglers.