The Kwara State Police Command has handed over 825 bags of smuggled rice, 15 vehicles and 24 suspects to the Nigeria Customs Service.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, handed over the smuggled rice and the suspects to the Area Controller of Customs in the state, Abba Kasim, who was represented by a Chief Superintendent of Customs, Adamu Yahaya, at the Police Headquarters, GRA, Ilorin, on Friday.
Egbetokun said the suspected smugglers were intercepted by the personnel of the Nigerian Navy School of Health Sciences along Irra Road in Offa last week Sunday.
He explained that investigation conducted by the police revealed that 15 of the suspects were drivers hired to convey the smuggled rice from Shaki in Oyo State to various destinations in Kwara State, while the other nine were traders and smugglers, who owned the rice.
Egbetokun noted that the statements of the suspects led to the arrest of nine more suspected smugglers, adding that all the suspects had confessed to the crime of smuggling of a banned product.
“Today, in the spirit of the synergy and cooperation existing among security agencies in Kwara State, the command is handing over 24 suspects and 825 bags of rice to the Nigeria Customs Service in Ilorin for further investigation and prosecution,” Egbetokun stated.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH Metro, one of the owners of the smuggled rice, who identified himself as Oluwatoyin Olaide, admitted that four of them were the owners of the smuggled rice, which he said were brought from the neighbouring Republic of Benin.
Olaide, who said they were based in Shaki, estimated the value of the seized rice at over N10m.
“Four of us own the smuggled rice; we are based in Shaki, Oyo State. We were supplied the rice by our agent in Benin Republic,” he stated.
Another suspect, Hajia Rashidat Atilade, who claimed to be a trader in Offa, Kwara State, said the intercepted rice was meant to be sold to some traders in the town.
“The owners of the rice have been our age long customers; we deal in foodstuffs such as beans, yam flour, noodles, groundnut oil etc; the smugglers used to bring these commodities to us and we used to buy from them,” she said.
Egbetokun added that the suspects were being handed over to the Nigeria Customs Service for prosecution in the court of law.
The CP also commended the state government for the support given to the command.
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