Adeniyi made this known on Monday at a news conference in Lagos convened because of the recent petroleum products seizures by Operation Whirlwind at the Federal Operations Unit in Ikeja.

According to him, in less than three months, Operation Whirlwind has yielded remarkable results with cumulative seizures of 245,370 liters of Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) valued at NGN238,140,000.

Adeniyi reiterated the service’s commitment to continue protecting Nigeria’s economic interests and ensuring that the benefits of government policies reached all citizens.

He commended the Leader of Operations Whirlwind, Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs, Hussein Ejibuno, and his team for protecting the economy and national security.

He said that each liter of petroleum product smuggled across the borders was a loss of revenue as much as it contributed to domestic scarcity, market instability and compromised energy security for the citizens.

“Our economic intelligence reveals that substantial price disparities across regional borders remain the fundamental catalyst for this illicit trade, fostering a profoundly lucrative black market that systematically undermines Nigeria’s economic sovereignty and national interests.

“Importantly, these figures exclude today’s report and seizures made through regular command structures and Federal Operations Units.

“I have previously presented these operational successes in Adamawa State on Jan. 30, where our officers intercepted 199,495 liters of Petrol with duty paid value of NGN 199,495,000.

“Also, in Kwara on Feb. 17, 2025, with additional seizures of 45,875 liters of Petrol worth NGN38,645,000,” he said.

The customs boss said further that the steady momentum of Operation Whirlwind was further demonstrated by the commendable performance recorded in Zone “A”, which covered the Lagos and Ogun axis.

“Today, I am pleased to present our latest operational achievements in this critical zone, which serves as both our nation’s commercial nerve centre and a high-risk corridor for cross-border smuggling activities due to its strategic location along our western frontier with the Republic of Benin.

“Following intelligence-driven operations between Jan. 11 and Feb. 23, our vigilant officers under the Operation Whirlwind have successfully intercepted and seized a total of 28,300 liters of PMS being diverted through various concealment methods and smuggling techniques.

“The NCS continues to confront a fluid national challenge that threatens our economic sovereignty and energy security with the persistent smuggling of petroleum products across our borders.

“While the government has implemented comprehensive market reforms and supply chain enhancements to stabilise the domestic petroleum sector, criminal networks remain determined to exploit regional economic disparities for illicit profit.

“These unscrupulous elements have shown remarkable adaptability, constantly refining their methods to circumvent our enforcement measures.

“What we are witnessing is not just routine customs violations but a systematic attempt to undermine Nigeria’s economic foundations through the diversion of strategic national resources,” he said.

Adeniyi stressed that the successful implementation of Operation Whirlwind highlighted the critical importance of strategic inter-agency collaboration in addressing complex national security challenges.

The Head, Operations Whirlwind, ACG Hussein Ejibuno, lauded the Comptroller-General of customs and the entire management for their support, saying that they enabled his team to achieve remarkable success in its operations.

Ejibuno said that his team also seized three vehicles as mean of conveyance and arrested two suspects who are currently facing trial. (NAN)

The matter, which was on number 9 on the cause list, could not proceed before Justice Inyang Ekwo.

The development occured after some cases had be heard by the judge before he went on recess.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the FIRS ha, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1444/2024, dragged Binance, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla to court.

In the originating summons dated and filed Sept. 30, 2024, by Chief Kanu Agabi, the country’s’ tax regulatory body sought four questions for determination.

The FIRS prayed the court to determine “whether pursuant to Section 13(2) of the Companies Income Tax (CIT) Act Cap. C21, LFN, 2024 and Order (1)(a) and (c) of Companies Income Tax (Significant Economic Presence) Order 2020, the defendants are not liable to pay annual corporate income tax to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for having had significant economic presence in Nigeria from 2022 to 2023, among others.

The agency, therefore, sought nine reliefs should the court answered its questions in the affirmative.

It wants the court to declare that pursuant to all relevant laws, the defendants are liable to pay annual corporate income tax to the Federal Government for having significant economic presence in the country.

It wants the court to declare that Binance and its representatives are lliable to file their income tax to the agency for the year 2022 and 2023 respectively from the time they began to exercise significant economic presence in Nigeria.

FIRS also seeks a declaration that it is entitled, under Section 87(1) of the CIT Act Cap. C21, LFN, 2004; Sections 25(1) and 34(1) of the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007, to recover from the defendants the cumulative sum of $2,001,000,000.00 being the amount due by way of income tax to the plaintiff from the defendants for 2022 and 2023 respectively.

It also seeks a declaration that pursuant to Section 85(1) of the CIT Act Cap. C21, LFN, 2004 and Section 32(1) of the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007, the defendants are liable to additional payment of 10 per cent per annum on the tax due but not paid for 2022 and 2023 respectively.

The agency, therefore, sought an order mandating the defendants to pay to the plaintiff the sums of $2,001,000,000.00 for year 2022 and for 2023, being the unpaid income tax due to the plaintiff from the defendants for the year 2022 and 2023 respectively.

“An order mandating the defendants to pay to the plaintiff the 10% addition for non-payment of income tax for year 2022 and 2023 respectively.

“An order mandating the defendants to pay 26.75% interest rate being the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) lending interest per annum from the 1st January, 2023 and 1st January, 2024 respectively when the tax become due and payable until it is fully paid.”

In the affidavit deposed to by Jimada Yusuf, a member, Special Investigation Team from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), he said he and other officials of FIRS and other regulatory agencies, investigated Binance’s business activities in Nigeria.

Yusuf said the Federal Government discovered that Binance had been operating in Nigeria for over six years without registration.

According to him, this was allegedly confirmed by Gambaryan and Anjarwalla during a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2024.

He further claimed that in a letter dated February 20, 2024, Binance admitted to having 386,256 active users from Nigeria on its platform, with a trading volume of $21.6 billion and a net revenue of $35.4 million for the calendar year 2023.

He accused Binance and its executives of multiple infractions, including offering financial services without the necessary licenses, operating without required permits, non-compliance with the money laundering Act, providing currency speculation services without proper authorisation, etc.

Yusuf averred that Binance engaged in Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) activities in Nigeria, providing trading and custodial services to Nigerian users without proper registration with the relevant regulatory agencies, among others.

NAN reports that the FIRS and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are also prosecuting the cryptocurrency company in separate charges before Justice Emeka Nwite of the same court.(NAN)