The Nigeria Customs in Sokoto state has intercepted a petrol tanker conveying 446 jerrycans of vegetable oil, official of the agency said on Wednesday.
The Customs had earlier intercepted a truck loaded with 460 bags of foreign rice with a duty value of N7.8 million.
Area comptroller in charge of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states, Nasir Ahmed, confirmed that the vegetable oil, with a duty value of N5.7 million, was concealed in a petrol tanker. He told newsmen that the jerrycans of vegetable oil were intercepted along Sokoto/Gusau road by the command’s surveillance team.
“This is very new to me, that jerry cans of vegetable oil are loaded into a tanker that is supposed to be carrying petrol,” he said.
”I am sure they are not only running away from Customs, but also from NAFDAC because you can see there are no labels nor NAFDAC certification.
“Though we believe it is vegetable oil, it would still be subjected to NAFDAC test, to determine what is actually inside.”