No fewer than 37 vehicles loaded with illegally imported bags of rice have been impounded by men of the Ogun State command of Nigeria Customs Service, while three suspects were also arrested in connection with the crime.

Briefing journalists at its Idi-Iroko Border Station on Wednesday, the Deputy Comptroller in charge of Enforcement, Mohammed Gagyo, said the vehicles loaded with the contraband were seized by officers of the command while on surveillance patrol along Ipokia, Idi-Iroko/Owode and Alaari/Ifonyintedo axis.

The suspects are, Olowe Oluwabunmi, Bibilari Olaniyi and Rasheed Abiola.

Gagyo, who explained that the anti-smuggling operation lasted a week, further added that each of the vehicles were conveying between 100 and 60 bags of illegally imported rice before the command’s operatives intercepted them along the bush path.

Also displayed were confiscated motorcycles used for smuggling, and a Volkswagen truck with number plate LXD 8870 SR, whose chassis compartment was used to conceal 50 bags of smuggled rice.

Meanwhile, Gagyo said that the ban on importation of rice through the land borders is still in force, warning smugglers to desist from the criminal act or face a stiff sanction from the state command of Nigeria Customs.

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