Customs said it has seized 8, 407 bags of faked Wavetide mosquito coil, valued at N54, 241, 964.00 at a warehouse near the Dawanu market on the outskirts of Kano.
The Comptroller of Customs in charge of the command, Mr. Nasiru Ahmed, said that a combined team of officers from his command and Comptroller General of Customs Task Force arrested one person in connection with the crime.
Ahmed said he would ensure that the suspect was prosecuted.
He decried the activities of unscrupulous Nigerians who collaborated with fraudulent foreign nationals to sabotage the economy.
Ahmed said Gongoni, an indigenous company, has contributed to the growth of the economy through the creation of employment and production of quality products, adding that the firm should be encouraged rather than being sabotaged.
He said that the command also intercepted and evacuated 8, 711 cartons of foreign tomato paste, valued at N33, 711, 570.00, adding that about 8, 136 pieces of unfinished donkey skin valued at N65, 972, 600.00, which were to be exported to China, were also evacuated.
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Ahmed, who decried the gradual extinction of donkeys, following the activities of unscrupulous businessmen who slaughtered them for illicit business, advocated stiffer punishment for smugglers, considering the enormity of the harm they had caused to the economy.
He said the impounded products were valued at N153, 885, 134.00.
The comptroller decried the new device of smugglers, who he said used luxury cars to smuggle foreign rice into the country, in a bid to beat security checks.
Said he: “We are really tackling smugglers. The border closure policy is telling on them. We are hitting them hard and we will not relent in our efforts to ensure that smugglers relocate from Nigerian borders.”
Addressing reporters, the Executive Director of Gongoni, Alhaji Abdullahi Halilu, hailed the Customs officers for their efforts.
He condemned the businessmen for faking their products, saying this was affecting the company.
