Nigeria has intercepted ''staggering'' amount of expired tomato smuggled into the country from Spain.
The seizure was made at Lagos port with the tomato concentrates in containers falsely declared as ''almond shells,'' the Acting Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service Bashir Adewale Adeniyi said.
''We have successfully intercepted and detained a staggering 20 containers filled with expired tomato concentrate, an unprecedented event since the inception of this command,'' he told journalists on Friday.
The head of the Nigerian Customs Service described the seizure as ''remarkable'' and a ''historic milestone'' in the history of the agency.
The seizure was made nearly two months ago but officials only disclosed it on Friday while giving updates on the customs operations in recent weeks.
Shocking audacity
The country's state-owned broadcaster, the Voice of Nigeria, reports that the expired tomato concentrates were imported from Spain. The customs boss said in each of the containers, there were 80 drums of tomato conmcentrate.
Mr Adeniyi sad the items were ''deemed unsafe for human consumption'' and that the seizure was a result of officers' vigilance at the port.
''The audacity of the smugglers to attempt introducing this hazardous product into the Nigerian market is both shocking and disheartening,'' he added. A suspect had been arrested but released on bail, the official said.
In other cases, the Nigerian customs said its officers had seized more than 10,000 50kg bags of rice smuggled into the country during various operations in Lagos and Ogun states.
They have also intercepted large quantities of various illicit drugs and other prohibited items.
