The Customs Area Controller in charge of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Muhammed Uba, has re-emphasized his commitment to fighting smugglers, especially vehicle smugglers to a standstill.
Uba disclosed this recently to newsmen while displaying some of the seized 18 exotic vehicles in Ikeja, Lagos.
He maintained that until relevant documents confirming that their importers have paid the necessary duty, the vehicles would be in the custody of the service, adding that his men will continue to trail the economic saboteurs until they get rid of them.
“The vehicles you saw last time we have moved them to the main warehouse because this place is not meant for keeping vehicles, these ones here are just temporary here after we will move them to the main warehouse. The smugglers or saboteurs whatever they call themselves, we will continue to trail them, we will never rest. Like I told you the FOU ‘A’ has been tackling them and we have been frustrating their efforts in all angles. It is for this reason that anytime you come here you will see various seizures.
“Unless relevant documents are produced for vehicles importation or whatever, the goods maybe before such goods will be released. If they are absolutely prohibited they will be seized and forfeited to the federal government. We will continue to do this until the society is rid of this economic saboteurs and make sure that live and properties of all Nigerians are secured and saved we have to protect our country”
He said that any vehicle seized, the unit will write to the Customs headquarters informing them of the number of seizures made and the reasons for that, even as he urged importers to come up with relevant documents to claim their vehicles.
He also said that importers have been coming to claim their vehicles and they have been releasing to them after ensuring that the government revenue has been collected.
“Anyone that is brought here, if the relevant documents are produced and government money is recovered, the vehicles are released to the owners and forwarded to the headquarters. Anyone we bring here we will immediately right to the headquarters telling them that these are the vehicles we have seized for not producing the relevant documents. The moment an individual brings and we are satisfied that the government money has been collected and there is no infringement of the part of the importer, the vehicles or goods will be released and a corresponding letter will be written to the headquarters. People have been coming to claim their vehicles and we have been releasing them”.
He revealed that the new set of the seized exotic vehicles are of different models and years and some of them are outright seizure because they were brought in through unapproved routes.
He said that 11 suspects were arrested in connecting to the act including a Chinese national and they are in their custody.
“We have 18 vehicles this time around, they are of different models some of them are outright seizure because they were brought in illegally through the land borders. Importation of vehicles through the land borders has been banned by the federal government and we will continue to enforce the ban until otherwise instructed by the government. Of course we have suspects 11 suspects for various offences they are in our custody including the Chinese national”.
It will be recalled that between 1st of February till 28th, the unit had detained different types of vehicles including, 1 Rolls Royce, 1 Chrysler, 1Audi Q7, 1 Land rover HSE, 1 Toyota Venza, 1 Ford Taurus, 1 Honda Crosstour, 4 Mercedes Benz, 3 Kia Rio, 1 Escalade amongst others ranging with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N303, 422, 034.49 from 2008 to 2015 models.
Most of these vehicles were intercepted along Ijebu Ode road while others were evacuated from a car mart located in Lekki.
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