Despite the ban on foreign rice and other goods, Nigerians are still bent on smuggling them in the country.

Some have been caught smuggling contraband goods, especially rice using gas cylinders and tyre. When contacted Joseph Attah, public relations officer of the service, said most smugglers use unapproved routes to bring in their contraband goods into the country.

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His words, “People often ask where were customs operatives when contraband goods entered the country without being stopped,” he explained.

“We have seen a situation where rice is smuggled using gas cylinders or a situation where spare tyres are used, the tyre is perforated and rice is loaded inside and when you open the booth you see what is supposed to be a tyre.

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“If you do not have tip-off, you are not likely to know that inside that spare tyre are 10 or 15 mudus (measures) of foreign rice.

“Another circumstance, smugglers use caskets that are used to carry corpses to either smuggle rice or petrol. They sometimes load petro in jerry cans and put it inside a casket, wrapped in such a way that you think is carrying a dead body.

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“A situation like this, if you don’t have intelligence, you wouldn’t know. For instance, without tip-off, it is unlikely as a human being to accost a vehicle carrying a casket with a supposed dead body and request for such to be opened.

“If people with all these tricks succeed and escape, their smuggled items are what you find in shops, markets and houses.”

ibrandtv.com

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