Explaining, the NCS alleged that the fabrics were smuggled into Nigeria by Chinese merchants from neighbouring countries into warehouses in Kano from where they were bought and taken to the Itoku Market by traders from the state for resale.
The Customs said the recent protest by traders in the state at the Governor's Office over the seizure of their Ankara stock by its operatives was not justifiable.
The Area Controller of the Customs in Ogun State, Comptroller Haruna Mamudu spoke when the management of a newspaper, First Awareness Newspaper conferred awards of Excellence on him, three deputy controllers, Agbo A. Hyacinth, Umar Abubakar and Mohammed Gagiyo as well as four other officers of the command, including the command's Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent II, Usman Abubakar.
Mamudu, who disclosed that the four Chinese merchants involved in the smuggling of the fabrics into Nigeria had already been arrested and their warehouse in Kano sealed off, stated that the Ankara materials were not bought by the Ogun traders from markets in Kano as they were trying to make Nigerians believe.
He stressed that the goods were smuggled into the country from Cameroon by the Chinese merchants, adding that no one could justify the act of smuggling.
The controller argued that the Customs had the mandate to seize any item on the prohibition list found anywhere within the country.
"Ankara, if you check, is on the prohibition list. Four Chinese have been arrested in Kano and the goods impounded. Our officers trailed these people and arrested them. It's not as if the goods were bought from Kano Markets. The warehouse in Kano has been sealed off. Ankara is a prohibition and anywhere it is seen, it should be seized," he said.
The area controller stressed that the operatives of the NCS did not need any search warrant before they could carry out their duty in any premises or property suspected of harbouring smuggled goods.
Earlier in his address, the publisher of the First Awareness Newspaper, Mr. Niyi Ogungbola commended the Customs controller in the state and his men for diligence and dedication to duty, which he said had gone a long way in improving the living condition of the residents of the state.
Ogungbola said that Memudu's tenure had, within a short time recorded a giant stride in income generation and the reduction in the rate of smuggling and other related offences in the state.
He stated that the controller who had been the "most media-friendly" Customs boss the command has ever had recorded such achievements due to his "open-door policy."
"It was recently announced that the Command under Comptroller Haruna generated a massive N6.46billion within a period of ten months (between December 2013 and November 2014), which is a landmark achievement in the history of Ogun State Command.
"In this present year, January to March 2015, he recorded an impressive performance in the command's revenue generation drive and the anti-smuggling campaign o the tune of N1.76billion as against N1.46billion collected within the same period in 2014. This shows the difference of N301.8million.
"On ant-smuggling, the Command also between January and March 2015, recorded total seizures of 287 with Duty Pay Value of N248.997million as against 344 seizures with DPV of N372.574million in the same period last year, which shows that smuggling has been drastically reduced because of the aggressive anti-smuggling campaign of the Command which is a pointer to Haruna's unwavering dedication to duty," the First Awareness Newspaper publisher said.
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