Nigeria’s Customs Service has sold 22,175 litres of Premium Motor Spirit seized during an anti-smuggling operation along the Lagos-Ogun border corridor. The disposal, held on Monday in Ikeja, also covered five vehicles allegedly used to move the petrol.
Quick facts
- Petrol auctioned: 22,175 litres
- Containers seized: 887 jerry cans, each holding 25 litres
- Estimated Duty Paid Value: about N32 million
- Interception points: Imeko, Ilara, Ilaro, Idiroko and Seme-Badagry
- Operation involved: Operation Whirlwind
The auction took place at the Customs Training College in Ikeja and involved products confiscated by officers during recent enforcement actions. The seized fuel was packed in 887 25-litre jerry cans, while the accompanying vehicles were identified as transport used in the alleged smuggling activity.
Customs said its officers made the seizures at known trafficking locations, including Imeko, Ilara, Ilaro, Idiroko and Seme-Badagry. The combined value assigned to the petroleum products and vehicles was approximately N32 million.
Deputy Comptroller of Customs Raphael Aliyu, the national coordinator of Operation Whirlwind, said the auction followed instructions from Comptroller-General of Customs Adewale Adeniyi. He said the process demonstrated the agency’s commitment to openness and the legal handling of confiscated petroleum products.
Aliyu described Operation Whirlwind as a focused campaign against the diversion and unlawful cross-border movement of fuel. Its wider purpose, he said, was to safeguard Nigeria’s economic interests and strengthen energy security by stopping products meant for domestic users from being exported illegally.
Customs has increased monitoring, intelligence collection and enforcement along routes suspected of facilitating fuel diversion and cross-border smuggling, Aliyu said. He added that the campaign would continue and remain “resolute, relentless and intelligence-driven.”
The agency will keep identifying, intercepting and dismantling smuggling groups, while those arrested will face prosecution under applicable laws, he said. Aliyu praised personnel in Operation Whirlwind Zone A and recognised assistance from the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
He urged people living in border communities to share information about suspicious fuel movements with authorities. Combating smuggling, he said, depends on coordinated action by government agencies and local communities.
