The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Wednesday in Calabar auctioned 14,375 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) seized from smugglers heading to Cameroon.

The product was seized by the NCS special anti-smuggling taskforce named “Operation Whirlwind” in the Calabar axis of the Zone.

National Coordinator of the taskforce in Zone C, Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Abubakar Aliyu, disclosed that the Duty Paid Value (DPV) for the product stood at N14.4 million.

According to him, within the past weeks, acting on credible and actionable intelligence, our operatives successfully dismantled a coordinated network involved in the illegal exportation of PMS to neighboring Cameroon.

“During the operation, we intercepted 235 jerry-cans of 25 litres each as well as and 40 drums (200 litres each) of PMS amounting to a total volume of 14,375 litres with a total DPV of N14.4 million.

“This success was recorded through sustained surveillance and strategic interdictions across identified flashpoints including Ikang, Bakassi, Ikom, and Ikot-Idareka.”

He added that the auctioned products were being diverted for illegal export in clear violation of Nigeria’s laws governing the distribution and movement of petroleum products.

Aliyu stressed that the NCS remained resolute in its constitutional mandate to safeguard Nigeria’s economy, secure critical national assets, and combat all forms of smuggling and economic sabotage.

Also speaking, Momoh Dauda, Comptroller, River/Calabar Free Trade Zone/Akwa Ibom Area Command noted that smuggling activities undermined legitimate trade and government revenues.

Dauda said that the success recorded by operation Whirlwind was a clear demonstration of what could be achieved through intelligence driven operations, interagency collaborations, and commitment of personnel.

“Smuggling in any form is economic sabotage. it distorts the market, deprived government of critical revenue needed for national development, threat to local industries, and in some cases poses serious security and health risk to our citizens.

“The NCS will not relent in confronting these illegal activities and will deal decisively, according to the law of the land, with anybody caught in the act,” he warned. (NAN