The Nigeria Customs Service, Seme Command, on Sunday destroyed 597 cartons of seized prohibited poultry products worth millions of naira. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the assorted products, comprising chicken, turkey, gizzard and sausage were set ablaze in the presence of other security agencies.
NAN reports that the exercise was witnessed by men of the State Security Services, NAFDAC, Quarantine and Customs officials.
Commenting on the exercise, Mr Abayomi Oderinde, the Chief Superintendent of Customs in charge of the Government Warehouse, said the action was necessitated due to the perishable nature of the products.
"This exercise by the customs is a necessary measure due to the fact that the items are perishable.
"We are destroying these products because importation of poultry products is on the prohibited list of Customs and it is a harmful consumable item due to the chemical composition used in preserving the products.
"Our command will do everything possible to fight against smuggling in Nigeria."
He said that Customs officers faced a lot of hardship in the past burying the products.
"In the past, we always destroyed such products by pouring chemicals on them and burying them, but we noticed that villagers would come after the exercise and dig out the products.
"Some of them might eat the products, while others may sell it and we considered this as very dangerous to human health, so we decided to burn all seized products."
Oderinde appealed to Nigerians not to invest in any wasteful venture and desist from importing of any product on the prohibition list of the customs.
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