Officer of the joint border drill within the Southwest zone, have intercepted two canoes laden with 50 kilograms of foreign parboiled rice along the Badagry waterways.
Authorities say the rice, about 415 bags are suspected to have been smuggled into the country from the Republic of Benin through the creeks.
Speaking at the Gbaji operational base, the Sector Two Commander, Comptroller Nurudeen Hassan explained that the officers carried out the operation inline with international best practice to achieve the result.
Sector 2 of the Southwest zone of the combined military and paramilitary interventionist team popularly known as the joint border patrol or border drill are headed by Comptroller of Customs, Nurudeen Hassan.
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According to the Comptroller, the operation was carried out by officers who were diligent, professional in their duty, adding that their dedication yielded a good result.
“This is not a marine outfit, but here we are, celebrating professionalism, we are celebrating diligence and we are celebrating great confidence and willingness to serve,” the comptroller stressed.
Mr Hassan advised the perpetrators of this crime which he terms economic sabotage, to desist, adding that whatever method criminals may want to adopt, the unit will always counter them.
He thanked the sister agencies (DSS, NIA, Immigration, Customs, soldiers and others), for their commitment and their level of collaboration in the fight against economic sabotage and the quest to ensure genuine businesses thrive in the country.
On his part the head of operation of the Gbaji axis of the unit, Dinya Sabo said a lot of intelligence and cooperation went into getting the result which also includes an insider informant among the smugglers.
He noted that the smugglers were initially arrested with the canoes, but that at the point of trying to move the canoes near the anchor point, they jumped into the water and promptly swam away unseen.
A member of the intelligence arm of the unit who would rather remain anonymous added they have been trailing these particular set of smugglers for long and diligently monitored their movement before finally apprehending them with their cargo.
Mr. Afolabi, one of the officers of the unit said the border drill is a unit set up by the office of the national security adviser who they report to directly and that as one can see, it is made up of officers and men from divers government entities who are dedicated to duty and of course the reason for the success acheived so far.
He advised Nigerians to be more patriotic in all situations and stay away from nefarious activities such as this.
The two canoes of rice were promptly discharged and taken to the Seme Command of the Nigeria Custom Service where they were counted and stored in the warehouse as the officers in charge at the command will be waiting for further directives by higher authority on the seizure.
