The Kaduna division of the Court of Appeal has determined that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) lacks the constitutional authority to seize imported rice from open markets. This ruling came during an appeal by the Customs Service challenging a previous Federal High Court decision that acquitted Suleiman Mohammed, who faced two charges related to the importation of foreign goods.
The three-member panel, headed by Justice Ntong Ntong, ordered the NCS to return 613 bags of foreign rice and 80 bags of millet—valued at approximately N200 million—along with a truck that had been seized from Suleiman Mohammed, a 37-year-old businessman, on the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway.
In its ruling, the court clarified that the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway does not qualify as a land border, thus the NCS had no authority to arrest Mohammed on June 14, 2019, or confiscate his goods in that location, which falls outside the legal boundaries of the ban on imported rice.
Justice Ntong emphasized that the NCS cannot patrol the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway or similar highways solely to arrest and seize foreign rice, as these routes are not designated land borders under the law. He stated that he thoroughly reviewed the appeal records, the trial court’s judgment, and related legal statutes before agreeing with the trial court’s findings.
