Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service said it has discovered how die-hard smugglers have devised means of converting fake chassis number of vehicles for the purpose of smuggling them through the border posts.
Customs Area Controller in charge of the command, Comptroller Uba Mohammed said this recently in a chat with newsmen at the command, even as he added that the customs officers have been able to impound over 21 exotic vehicles along the border post whose importations contravened procedures within the first quarter of the year 2019.
Throwing more light on the smugglers’ modus operandi, Uba said that the smugglers would suppress and replace the original chassis of vehicles with their own and then present fake documents to security agencies to perfect the illicit act.
He explained that officers and men of the command were able to uncover the tricks put in place by the smugglers, which in turn led to the seizures of some imported smuggled vehicles in the past few weeks.
He called on sister agencies of the government along the border post to be vigilant with the latest gimmick by smugglers of vehicles, even as he stressed the need for proper scrutiny of customs documentation on vehicles.
Explaining further, the Seme customs boss said, “In a nutshell, ID card, telephone numbers and calling embassy is not part of customs clearing process. Smugglers can use a lot of modalities to make sure they commit these atrocities”
“Similarly, the intensified operation of the enforcement unit has drastically reduced smuggling activities to the barest minimum”, he concluded.
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