The Nigeria Customs Service says it has impounded prohibited items worth over N2bn and arrested 239 illegal immigrants following the closure of the nation’s borders on August 20.

Deputy Controller of Customs and Spokesman of the Federal Government Strategic Communication Team, Joseph Attah, said this at a forum with representatives of farmer organisations and National Orientation Agency in Owerri on Friday.

Attah listed the items seized to include 4,321 bags of 50kilograms of parboiled foreign rice, 8,982 jerry cans of petrol, 399 vehicles, life cartridges and hard drugs.

The Customs image maker said that the closure of the borders would remain in force until erring neighbouring nations began to abide by the ECOWAS protocols.

He stressed that the action was not targeted at any particular part of the country neither was it based on regional, tribal or religious considerations.

He said, “Flagrant abuse of established ECOWAS protocol is making our job difficult and we have raised this issue at various Customs forums with a number of MoUs written and signed to remedy the anomaly but all to no avail.

“Nigerians are industrious and business inclined but regrettably, everything produced here is believed to be inferior to foreign products and we find it difficult to support our local framers.”

Attah attributed the unhealthy development partly to international conspiracy against the nation being engineered by the western world.