Customs Impounds 31 Rice Containers

The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has impounded 31 containers of rice illegally imported into the country. The items were seized on Friday at the Tin-Can Island Container Terminal (TICT), Lagos. The Comptroller-General of Customs Col Hameed Ali who was represented by a Deputy Comptroller-General ( DCG) Dan Ugo said the items were shipped into the from China, adding that the importer wanted to shortchange the government by declaring the items as yeast in his bill of laden. According to him, yeast importation attracts five per cent duty, while rice attracts 110 per cent duty and 60 per cent levy. The Comptroller-General has therefore declared that over 40, 000 bags of rice inside the containers as outright seizure without any option of payment for the importer for falsifying his document. He said; the measure, was taken to serve as deterrent to other scrupulous importers operating at the nation’s sea ports and border stations. The CGC retracted that the era false declaration and debit note was over; saying importers with false declaration of imports would be punished by the government. “We have told clearing agents and importers to do genuine declaration. We are all talking of trade facilitation at port and some importers are busy abusing the system,” he said. Thanks for reading.

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