By Ifeyinwa Obi

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) recorded a total of 6,019 seizures with a duty paid value of N4.3 billion in 2012.

According to a report on the activities of the service in 2012, 308 arrests were made in connection with the seizures, while the number of general goods seized was 3,996.

A breakdown of other seizures recorded by the service in 2012 includes 1,970 cars, 52 motorcycles, five boats and 52 containers. In comparative terms, the seizures recorded in 2012 were higher than the 5,784 recorded in 2011.

However, the duty paid value in 2011 was N8.4 billion, compared with the N4.3 billion in 2012. Also there was a decline in the number of arrests in 2012 compared with the 476 arrests recorded by the service in 2011.

Meanwhile, official figures show that in 2012 the service generated a revenue of N850.8 billion below Federal Government’s target of N872.2 billion.