The duty paid value of the products which were seized at Bakatari community along Ibadan-Abeokuta road, Ido Local Government area of Oyo State on Thursday, 11 September, 2014 was put at N14million, reports NigerianTribune.

The seizure fell on the same day that the Area Controller of Oyo/Osun Area Command of the anti-smuggling agency, Mr Richard Oteri, led his officers, journalists and officials of other security agents to Abaja forest , via Igbeti in Olorunsogo Local Government of Oyo state, where 40 Peugeot 504 saloon cars loaded with 2000 bags of rice were intercepted after a week of surveillance by Customs’ patrol teams.

Speaking with journalists on Saturday, 13 September, at the dumpsite at Arapaja community, Oluyole Local Government area, where the products were destroyed with chemical before burial, the Area Controller, who was represented by the Deputy Controller, Administration, Usman Bumba, said the goods were seized at about 4.30 am by the special anti-smuggling task force, led by an Assistant Controller, Mohammed Adamu Ibrahim.

Disclosing that the products were brought in from Brazil, Oteri reiterated that poultry products and frozen foods were contraband which had remained prohibited by the federal government.

The Area Controller said that the reason behind the ban was to protect local farms, which would in turn provide employment for the Nigerians and increase the economic growth of the nation.

He also emphasised that the consumption of imported poultry products was dangerous to human health, ascribing the cause of such danger to the long period of storage and the chemical used in preserving the products, in addition to the time it would take to transport them into the country before consumption by end users.

“This particular seizure is from Brazil so you can imagine the distance it covers and the time it used to come into the country,” he noted.

Oteri said that his command would continue to advise the general public against patronising imported poultry products so as to discourage the unpatriotic smugglers.

He also said that the offenders had been apprehended and would be made to face the law.

The seized products were buried at the dump site in the presence of journalists, and officials of Department of State Services (DSS) and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).