The Nigeria Customs Service is still silent, 19 days after FIJ revealed that its officers were aiding smuggling at the Nigeria-Benin Republic border in Ogun State.

On Tuesday, February 20, FIJ released the trailer of an undercover investigation – “Undercover as a Smuggler” – by ‘Fisayo Soyombo, its founder and editor-in-chief, and followed it up with a multimedia story on Wednesday and a 16-minute documentary on Thursday.

Soyombo had successfully smuggled 100 bags of rice through the Ilaro border in Ogun State. Apart from showing the NCS’ complicity, the investigation exposed Ibrahim Egungbohun, a serial smuggler of all sorts of contraband, such as ammunition and prohibited foreign food commodities, popularly known as IBD Dende.

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On a special day assigned for smugglers to have an unhindered operation, Soyombo and his fixers, after making bribe payments to senior NCS officials, brought the rice into Nigeria, even as foreign rice importation through whatever means remained prohibited in the country.

FIJ further published an exclusive report on how the NCS was using IBD Dende to bring motorcycles recovered from bandits and terrorists in the north of Nigeria down to the west. Equally, FIJ published widely seen video clips of the highly connected smuggler having a violent confrontation with some rifle-bearing customs officers, threatening to kill one of them.

National broadcast houses like AriseTv, Channels TV and Western Spring Television have aired and discussed the findings of the investigation.

Despite the weight of the publications, which indicted even Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), and Hussein Ejigbunu, the Comptroller-General of the Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, the NCS has remained unperturbed.

Some Nigerians have suggested that the NCS and other state institutions have a habit of turning a blind eye to accusations and waiting for the dust to settle.

On an X space hosted by FIJ on Saturday, some participants narrated how customs officials stationed at multiple checkpoints are in the habit of extorting importers to the tune of millions of naira.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: IBD Dende Threatens to Kill Customs Officer for Seizing His Smuggled Goods

Particularly, some participants, who grew up or went to school in Ilaro and Idi-Iroko border communities, confirmed IBD Dende’s notoriety and grand smuggling credentials.

While the NCS has remained silent, IBD Dende has been uncomfortable, engineering press statement publications in legacy newspapers to burnish his image. IBD Dende petitioned Kayode Egbetokun, who happens to be his friend and kinsman, while Oba Kehinde Gbadewole Olugbenle, the Olu of Ilaro, was also in the news, laundering the smuggler’s image.

While threatening FIJ and AriseTv with a lawsuit, IBD Dende has been making some surreptitious moves to have the stories taken down from the internet.