The Nigerian Customs Service, Kebbi State Command, has intercepted and seized 478 jerrycans containing Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, from smugglers.
This is according to a statement signed by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Nasiru Manga, and made available to journalists on Monday.
“Anti-smuggling officials of the Nigeria Customs Service, Kebbi Area Command, have continued to give petroleum smugglers a tough time as the Command’s anti-bunkering team seized 478 jerrycans of 25 litres each (11,950 litres) of PMS intended to be smuggled out of the country through Yauri waterway on Thursday, August 11, 2022.
“Based on a tip-off, the intelligence operatives had monitored the movement of loaded jerrycans of PMS to a spot near the waterway for some days before the deployment of the anti-bunkering squad, who struck and intercepted the 11,950 litres of PMS and evacuated the product to the command’s headquarters in Birnin Kebbi,” the statement read.
Commenting on the development, the Customs Area Controller, Kebbi Area Command, Comptroller Joseph Attah, lauded the fruitful collaboration of relevant units under the Command, stressing the need for security agencies to share information, work together and achieve results in the interest of the nation. “Together, we are stronger,” he said.
Attah further restated the Command’s resolve to strictly monitor all the waterways under the Command, especially this rainy season against the smuggling of PMS, rice, secondhand clothes and other items that could compromise national security and the economy, calling on the border communities to give relevant information that could help curtail smuggling activities in the state.
He maintained that the renewed offensive on smugglers in the last two weeks had seen the Command making a number of seizures of PMS, second-hand clothes, used vehicles, foreign fertilizers among others.