Kano/Jigawa Customs intercepts $184,800, SAR1.7m currency

Records 55.4% rise in revenue generation Jan-June ‘21

BY FUNMI ALUKO

Umar, extreme right, Nzikwe in grey suit with other customs management staff after the suspect and cash was handed over to EFCC officials led by Nzikwe

Operatives of the Kano/Jigawa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service have arrested a suspected currency trafficker, and impounded a total of $184, 800 in hard currency, found in his possession.

This is even as the customs area command recorded an impressive 55.4% jump in revenue collection for the first half of the current fiscal year, 2021. The Customs Area Controller, Kano/Jigawa Command, Comptroller Suleiman Pai Umar, disclosed above foreign currency catch while handing over a lone suspect, Sabo Suleiman, to the Kano Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Umar said Suleiman was arrested in a joint operation alongside EFCC, Department of state Services, DSS, at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, recently. He explained that the suspect was nabbed when he came to claim an unaccompanied luggage containing the currency, which he explained arrived aboard an Ethiopian Air flight ET911 from Saudi Arabia through Addis Ababa.

Umar showcasing some of the seizures made between Jan and June 2021

The Kano/Jigawa Customs boss further explained that upon thorough screening, it was discovered that the sum of $184,800, One Hundred and Eighty Four Thousand Dollars, Eight Hundred Cent, and SAR 1, 723,310, One Million, Seven Hundred and Twenty Three Thousand, Three Hundred and Ten Saudi Riyals, was concealed in a diaper pack inside the luggage.

The Deputy Head of Kano Zonal of EFCC, Mr. Michael Nzikwe, applauded the Customs Area Command for providing enabling synergy to work with the EFCC and other sister agencies, noting that Nigerians are the biggest gainner of the inter-agency collaboration.

Nzikwe vowed that the Commission will conduct a diligent and thorough investigation into the case, and that the suspect will be prosecuted, accordingly.

According to him, “It is a common goal, no need for rivalry.  We are looking forward to when money Laundering and economic sabotage will be a thing of the past”, he stated.

Umar and representative of the EFCC

Umar who also showcased seizures made by the command between March and June 2021, listed the seizures to include 809 by 50kg bags foreign rice, 413 cartons of foreign Soap-, 512 cartons of Spaghetti and 83 jerrycans of vegetable oil.

Others include 84 packs of Couscous, 29 bales of second hand used clothing, 430 packs of Tramadol Capsules, including 1,805 pieces of unllabelled drugs; with a total Duty Paid Value of N27, 745, 540. 55k

Umar said the Command generated the sum of N12, 846, 131, 793. 36,  January to June 2021, in revenue, representing 55.4%, over and above the sum of N8, 268, 657, 400. 34 generated within the corresponding period of 2020.