The Nigerian Customs Service on Wednesday said it would not hesitate to sustain it task of resisting illegal activities of smugglers of petroleum product.
The area controller Sokoto/Zamfara Area command Khamal Mohammed made the remarks while auctioning 55,164 litres of PMS to the public at N180 per litre held at customs house Sokoto.
He said the Nigeria Customs Service would run smugglers out of illegitimate business of PMS smuggling.
It could be recall that the area Command auctioned 11,270Liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) intercepted by operatives of operation Whirlwind Sokoto/Zamfara area command.
He said the command observed that activities of smugglers have continued to create artificial scarcity in some parts of the country and also brought about additional burden on the country’s scarce foreign exchange used to import the product.
According to him the open air exercise carried out was in line with the extant laws and approval of the Comptroller General of the service at the Area Command headquarters in Sokoto.
“If they continue unabated with the illegitimate activities, the service is equal to the task of making them uncomfortable within the Area of its jurisdiction”, he vowed.
He said the break- through on the seizures within the period I dear review was sequel to intensified clamp down on smugglers of the product.
“The patriotic effort of officers and men led to the seizure of 55,164liters of PMS with a duty paid value (DPV) of N38,669,964.00 within the period under review.
“All seized petroleum product were coordinated by the intelligence driven tactical team code named operation Whirlwind which made a seizure of 28,116Liters while the Sokoto/Zamfara Area Command patrol teams made a seizure of 23,030Liters of PMS,” he explained.
The Area Controller however , noted that even with the subsidy removal, Nigeria still remains among the list of countries with the cheapest Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
“PMS is sold at an average of N701.99k per liter in the country while in Cameroon it is sold at N2,061.55k, Mali is N2,128.20k and N1,672.05k in the Republic of Benin”, he said.
Further explaining on the comparative cost of the product , Muhammed said that the price price margin of the product between Nigeria and other West Africa Countries was responsible for smuggling of the product pointing out that ” it has become an easy profit making venture for smugglers as it fetches them two or three times its domestic price.”
The Area Controller assured that the service would continue to protect the country’s economic interest with dedication, justice and integrity.
