The Federal Operations Unit (FoU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ikeja, Lagos, has raised alarm on the contaminated foreign rice allegedly smuggled into the from Benin Republic.
The NCS said it had intercepted over 1,000 bags of such foreign parboiled rice.
Speaking during a press briefing in Lagos on Thursday, May 5, the acting Comptroller, FOU, Zone A, Hussein Ejibunu, said the rice came into Cotonou from India.
According to him, the foreign rice was tested by the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and confirmed to be poisonous and unsafe for consumption.
“After seizing the smuggled rice, we called NAFDAC to conduct laboratory analysis and it was gathered that the rice named SIMBA which consists of lead substances that is poisonous to the body was produced in India,” he said.
