The Adamawa-Taraba Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has seized contraband petroleum products, second-hand clothes, donkey skin and donkey meat, as well as unregistered drugs over the past six weeks.
The seizures, made mostly within Adamawa State, have a duty-paid value of more than N98 million.
The Customs Area Controller in charge of the Adamawa-Taraba Command, Comptroller Mohammed Tanko, gave details of the seized items during a press conference at the command headquarters in Yola on Wednesday, explaining that the success was the result of the command’s anti-smuggling operations within the period under review.
He disclosed that on Tuesday, February 26, 2026, at 1:10 pm, officers intercepted 43 jumbo sacks of second-hand clothing, as well as five cartons and 12 packages of Viagra 200 mg tablets, along the Savannah-Numan axis in Adamawa State.
According to him, similarly, on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at 4:15 pm along the Mubi-Sangere axis (Adamawa), 509 pieces of raw complete donkey skin and 460 kg of dried donkey meat were seized.
He added that on Friday, March 13, 2026, at 6:10 pm, operatives intercepted 110 x 25L jerry cans of PMS, 25 litres each, along the Likitaba-Gembu axis of Taraba State.
“Additionally, 520 Jerry cans of 25 litres each of PMS and 112x25L Jerry cans of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) were seized on Sunday, 15th March 2026, at about 0200hrs along Mubi-Sahuda axis,” the Customs controller said.
Still enumerating the activities of his officers, Tanko said 482 x 25L jerry cans of PMS were seized on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at about 10:10 pm along the Maiha-Belel axis (Adamawa).
“Finally, on Monday, 11th April, 2026, at about 0025 hrs, officers of the Command intercepted 176x25L Jerry Cans and 3x220L drums of PMS along Toungo-Ganye axis (Adamawa),” he said.
He clarified that in total, 1,288 jerry cans and three drums containing approximately 32,860 litres of PMS, alongside 2,800 litres of AGO packed in 112 jerry cans of 25-litre capacity and other listed items, were seized with an aggregate duty-paid value of N98,375,325.00.
He explained that the seizures were carried out pursuant to the provisions of the Nigeria Customs Service Act, 2023, and Schedule 6 (Export Prohibition List) of the Common External Tariff (CET), which empower the NCS to prevent the illegal exportation of PMS and raw donkey skin and meat out of the country and give officers the powers to detain, seize and condemn smuggled goods.
“Smuggling of petroleum products, wildlife and unregistered pharmaceuticals undermines national security, public health and economic stability. There will be zero tolerance for such illegal acts. Let me reiterate that offenders will face seizures of goods, arrest and prosecution without exception,” Tanko said.
