The Nigerian Customs Service yesterday auctioned 25,162 liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at N180 per liter.
The Area Controller, Comptroller Kamal Muhammed, said at the Area Command headquarters in Sokoto that he would sustain their task of resisting smugglers of petroleum products in the Sokoto/Zamfara Area command.
He maintained: “Nigeria Customs Service will run you out of your illegitimate business.”
It will be recalled that the Area Command auctioned 11,270 liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) intercepted by operatives of Operation Whirlwind.
The command observed the smugglers had continued to create artificial scarcity in some parts of the country and brought about an additional burden on the country’s scarce foreign exchange used to import the product.
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Muhammed said the breakthrough on the seizures within the period I dear review was a sequel to intensified clamp down on smugglers of the product.
“This has led to the seizure of 55,164 liters of PMS with a duty paid value (DPV) of N38,669,964 within the period under review.
“All seized petroleum products were coordinated by the intelligence-driven tactical team code-named Operation Whirlwind, which made a seizure of 28,116litres while the Sokoto/Zamfara Area Command patrol teams made a seizure of 23,030litres of PMS,” he explained.
The Area Controller, however, noted that even with the subsidy removal, Nigeria still remains among the list of countries with the cheapest PMS.
“PMS is sold at an average of N701.99 per litre in the country while in Cameroon it is sold at N2,061.55, Mali is N2,128.20 and N1,672.05 in the Republic of Benin,” he said.
