The Oyo/ Osun area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service Wednesday warned Nigerians to be wary of buying any kind of rice as poisonous and deadly bags of rice have flooded the market.
The Command confirmed that some unpatriotic Nigerians have conspired with some importers to smuggle into the country via land borders expired and deadly bags of rice into the shore of the country.
Hundreds of bags of rice said to be deadly seized by men of the Command were paraded before newsmen Wednesday.
The area controller of the command, Comptroller Udo-Aka Emmanuel who made the observation at a press briefing in Ibadan yesterday said the expired products were brought into the country every day, adding that its consumption is dangerous to health.
According to him, he had investigated most of the goods smuggled into the country, especially frozen foods and rice, and discovered they are expired.
He noted that his investigations further revealed that most of those rice lasted for the period of four years before smugglers repackaged and change the expiring dates and send it to Nigeria.
“I visited borders to investigate most of those products but let me tell you, they are expired. Nigerians needs to beware and patronize our local products. Research shows that smugglers repackage rice in their warehouse for more than four years and send it to Nigeria.”
Udo-Aka who paraded some of the vehicles and goods intercepted in Saki axis area of Oyo State by the command said those who refused to claim their seized goods within thirty days may forfeit it to Federal Government.
“I want to make crystal clear to the entire public that the period of 30 days of grace that was given for the public to pay duties for vehicles that were smuggled has expired. The grace period ended on the 19th of May, 2017. They should come forth with the genuine documents and claim ownership within thirty days after which the goods are liable for seizure.”
Among the goods intercepted are; assorted contraband goods with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) worth N23million, 15 different vehicles, second hand clothing, foreign rice and other contraband goods.
He however said no suspect were arrested as the smugglers left the vehicles and took to their heel when they sighted the customs officers.
