The Joint Border Patrol Team (JBPT) made 128 seizures in the North Central Zone of the country between January and March.
The team comprises operatives of the Customs Service, Immigration Service, the National Intelligence Agency, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the police and the army.
Coordinator of the team, Comptroller of Customs, Olugboyega Peters, told newsmen in Ilorin on Wednesday that duty payable on some of the seized items was N76 million.
“Items seized were 1,584 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 48 used vehicles, seven motorcycles, 1,864 pieces of 25-litre kegs of petrol, 18 similar kegs of diesel and 21 bales of second-hand clothing.
“Other seized items were 86 pairs of men’s shoes, 20 pairs of women shoes, 21 bags of 50kg foreign sugar, five locally-made Dane guns, Jack knife, axes, cutlasses and seven other drums of petrol.
“The remaining seizures and arrests were three sets of human traffickers with 80 children already handed over to Immigration and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons,’’ he said.
Peters added that six illegal immigrants, 60,000 CFA and 948 cartons of foreign tomato paste were also either apprehended or seized.
He said more seizures were domiciled at various locations within the zone that could not be transferred to the Sector 3 headquarters in Ilorin due to distance and logistics challenges.
They include 473 bags of rice, nine vehicles and 945 cartons of tomato paste, he said.
Peters cautioned youths to shun economic saboteurs using them to confront operatives of the sector carrying out their lawful duties.
“People with criminal intentions should immediately desist from such acts because operatives of the sector are well mobilised, backed by extant laws and shall remain resolute at enforcing the law without fear or intimidation
“To this end, I will like to thank the Office of the National Security Adviser and the entire management of JBPT at the national level for creating an atmosphere conducive to successes recorded so far.
“We will continue to partner with other security agencies and stakeholders to make the sector and indeed the country a safe place to dwell in.
“’The successes recorded so far can only serve as a challenge to raise the bar and do more in terms of full commitment, dedication to work and discipline.
“This is to ensure that we can collectively achieve the goal of ridding our nation of prohibited items, illegal immigration and other social vices and crimes,’’ Peters said. (NAN)
