The Nigeria Customs Service, Adamawa and Taraba Area Command, has seized Premium Motor Spirit, foreign parboiled rice and other items with a total Duty Paid Value of ₦79.86m in Adamawa State.
Speaking at a press conference in Yola on Friday, the Area Comptroller, Mohammed Tako, said the seizures were made during anti-smuggling operations targeting identified smuggling hotspots across the command.
Tako said the service remained committed to stimulating national economic growth through an aggressive anti-smuggling campaign and enhanced trade facilitation in line with global best practices.
According to him, within two months of intensified operations, officers uncovered 451 cartons of foreign bar soap stockpiled in the bush along the bank of the River Benue.
He said the smugglers had made arrangements to move the items into Nigeria but abandoned them and fled into the bush following the intervention of customs officers.
“Confronted by the swift intervention of our officers, the suspects abandoned the contraband and fled into the bush,” he said.
Tako said that in another operation, officers discovered 374 jerrycans, each containing 25 litres of PMS, along a bush path in Sahuda, on the Nigeria-Cameroon border, in the early hours of August 20, 2026.
He added that a Mitsubishi Canter truck with registration number XB 566 GML, loaded with 116 bags of foreign parboiled rice weighing 50kg each and 50 cartons of foreign soap, was intercepted along the Wuro Alhaji-Maiha axis on September 14, 2026, at about 8.10pm, following credible intelligence.
The comptroller said officers also discovered 299 jerrycans of PMS, each containing 25 litres, along an unapproved route on the Belel-Goshidan axis on September 21, 2026, at about 2.45am.
He said the products were intended to be smuggled out of the country.
“In like manner, on Friday, October 2, 2026, at about 0600hrs, following actionable intelligence, 150 bags of foreign parboiled rice weighing 50kg each, 20 bags of local maize weighing 100kg each, and 11 bales and five jumbo sacks of second-hand clothing gathered along a bush path on the Maiha-Mubi axis, meant for onward smuggling, were discovered and seized by the operatives,” Tako said.
He put the total seizures at 673 jerrycans of PMS, amounting to 16,825 litres; 501 cartons of foreign bar soap; 266 bags of foreign parboiled rice weighing 50kg each; 11 bales and five jumbo sacks of second-hand clothing; and one Mitsubishi Canter truck used to convey the contraband goods.
According to him, the seized items had an aggregate Duty Paid Value of ₦79,857,500.
Tako said the seizures were made in accordance with the Nigeria Customs Service Act, 2023, particularly Sections 150, 233, 245, 246 and 248, as well as Schedule 3 of the Common External Tariff, which contains the import prohibition list.
He urged community leaders to cooperate with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies in the fight against smuggling and other crimes in the interest of the country’s economic development.