The Nigeria Customs Service, Operation Whirlwind Zone A, has said that the insecurity in Borno State has made it impossible for its operatives to effectively tackle smugglers of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol.
The National Coordinator of Operation Whirlwind Zone A, Hussein Ejibunu, a Customs Area Controller, disclosed this on Friday in Ikeja while showcasing some seized kegs of PMS to journalists.
Ejibunu also mentioned inadequate manpower as one of the challenges the team is facing in carrying out its duty.
He reiterated that there is no operation without challenges. According to him, the major challenge is manpower, “we make do with what we have.”
“It’s a lean operation, but there are still a couple of places we have not been able to reach. For instance, getting to Borno is a herculean task. I deployed officers to Borno but the state is a security zone.
“And by the time my officers got there, they were advised to leave that place because it was a security zone. So we have not been able to cover that much,” he said.
Ejibunu explained that they normally embark on an intelligence-based operation.
“We don’t have checkpoints. All we know is that we gather intelligence, we work through intelligence gathering, we act on it, and we bring the success story.
And the moment it’s done, we retreat immediately. No one knows where they come from,” he said.
Speaking on seizures, Ejibunu added that the team intercepted 849 kegs of petrol containing 25 litres each, with two vehicles as means of conveyance
“And this translates to 30,225 liters with duty paid value of N30.2m,” Ejibunu said.
He explained that the contrabands were intercepted at different locations in Zone A comprising the Lagos and Ogun States axis.
Ejibunu stated that it is important to reiterate the fact that smugglers are all running away from being arrested.
“What they do now is they ferry those things along the bush paths. They leave it there, looking for vehicles. Then it is on intelligence we normally get to know the area and we comb the area and evacuate,” Ejibunu explained.
He mentioned that the team arrested a fuel station that was caught a few days ago dispensing fuel into jerry cans.
He added that the fuel station has been handed over to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority for proper sanctioning.
