The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operating Unit (FOU), Zone C, Owerri has confiscated 5,040 cartons of red grape wine smuggled into the country.
The NCS also seized 143 bales of fabrics with each bale containing 1,200 dozens of garments.
These impounded contraband items amounted to N143,200,000 in Duty Paid Value, the NCS said.
Controller of the NCS in Imo , Mr Kayode Olusemire told newsmen about the confiscation while displaying the seized items at the NCS office in Owerri on Wednesday.
Olusemire said that NCS officers in Owerri intercepted trailers conveying the smuggled items along the Aba-Portharcourt express way.
He said that the importers of the seized items would have to forfeit them to government as according to him, they were guilty of false declaration, an offence which contravenes section 46 of Customs laws.
He added that the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) for the containers had indicated that they had been loaded with industrial salt and agricultural pressure sprayer as against the red grape wine and garments respectively discovered in the containers.
He however said that the importers of the seized items must have been trying to evade import duty and frowned at rampant cases of false declaration and its impact on the country’s economy.
“The importers of these items are guilty of false declaration and the items should be forfeited to government because what we have in the PAAR is different from the actual contents of the containers.
” The import duty for garments is 20 per cent while that of agricultural pressure sprayer is 5 per cent, so I think the importers must have been trying to evade import duty.
“Red grape juice is prohibited from coming into the country because its importation can render local fruit juice companies moribund, leading to unemployment and economic insecurity.
“We have impeccable intelligence network across the country so we advise importers to desist from illegitimate practices for the overall good of our dear country “, he said.
