The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Port Harcourt Area ll Command Onne had said  331.1 metric tonnes of cargo worth N52.6 billion was export through the port between January to June, 2021

The Free On Board, FOB,  value of the expory stood at $137.9 million.

The export items include sesame seeds, ginger, cocoa beans, hibiscus, fluorite ore, lead ore, palm kernel shell, cotton, float glass, aluminium ingot etc, with NESS value of N260.

The Command also netted a whooping sum of N78, 167,080,299.21 in revenue collection between January to June 2021.

The revenue figure is N31.5 billion over the sum of N46,661,756, 918.3 generated in the corresponding period of 2020, representing 67.52% increment.

Onne Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Auwal Mohammed in a statement made available to Vanguard described the impressive performance as a manifestation of strict enforcement of fiscal policies, uncompromising implementation of government directives and diligent trade facilitation are among strategies put in place under his watch.

While the Command made nineteen a total of nineteen, 19, seizures with a Duty Paid Value, DPV, of N8.2 billion, within the period under review, Mohammed indicated that a humongous amount of N14.5 billion was generated in the month of June 2021 alone, a feat he said is unprecedented in the history of the command.

According to the statement signed by the Command Public Relations Officer, Ifeoma Onuigbo Ojekwu, the seizures include a total of 1,387 cartons of tramadol worth N3.7 billion.

More significantly is that the drug was intercepted a single operation in May this year, even as the consignment was concealed with 1000 cartons of tiles.

The seizures also 2 units of Used Mitsubishi buses, 210 bales of second hand clothing,  4,029 pcs of used tyres, 16 units of used engine gear box and auto spare parts, 310 pallets of laser ketchup, 2,721 x 50kg bags of foreign rice and 37 cartons of wine.

Others are 124 cartons of tapentadol, 956x 25litres Jerrycans of vegetable oil, 750 cartons of supergold candle, 2,970 cartons of foreign soap, 89 bales of fabrics and 500 cartons of medicaments.

So far, four, 4, suspects have been arrested in connection with the seizures and the suspects are at various stages of investigation and prosecution in courts of competent jurisdiction.

The Area Controller said the Command remains unrelenting and uncompromising in diligently examining every cargo that goes through the port, in line with the Comptroller General of Customs zero tolerance for infractions.

He said, “Area ll Command, Onne Port will remain a no go area for perpetrators of any trade malpractice. We will keep doing our best in ensuring that all import and export cargoes are duly examined.

“The long arms of the law will not spare any importer, exporter or trader who dares our resolve by perpetrating illegalities in Onne Port. We have demonstrated this in the first half of the year and will continue to improve on our recorded milestones.

“I am calling on all importers and agents to imbibe the spirit of true and proper declaration”, adding:

“While thanking all my officers for their teamwork and integrity driven performance, I will also like to thank our compliant traders using Onne Port to keep up the good work.”