Immediate past National President of Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) who is also the incumbent Chair of the association’s board; Dr. Frank Ukor has alleged that he was detained for 12 days, sleeping in a mosquito-infested room with bedbug-ridden mats by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service at Federal Operations Unit in Ikeja.
Ukor who narrated his story on social media platforms recently disclosed that he was only trying to help a friend whose brother in-law imported a sprinter bus from the United Kingdom and it was arrested by FOU for carrying a "small carton of cartridge" that was carelessly thrown into the bus.
He said the Sprinter bus was also loaded with both some new and used items, especially assorted drinks.
He said the bus was allegedly shipped to Nigeria and cleared by one clearing agent and delivered to one of the consignees' friends for onward delivery to the consignee.
However on the way to Imo State, Customs at Ore stopped them, and on examination saw the carton of the cartridge. They arrested the escort while the driver reportedly bolted away.
Speaking on his travails, he said: "On 7th December, 2018, incidentally my 66th birthday, in the hours of early evening, a friend called me requesting my assistance in handling a problem that had just befallen his brother in law"
"My friend, who is a member of my religion and a cleric requested my assistance in resolving issues or getting a senior Customs officer to intervene in getting the bus out. I agreed since it was only a carton and for personal use at the Thanksgiving celebration"
"I made contacts and one agreed to help provided that it was just only one carton. To ensure that, he said that I should go and witness the examination"
"On Monday, 10th, I went to Customs FOU, Ikeja. On my way, my friend told me that another person had been requested to be there by others who have goods in the bus. A retired Assistant Comptroller of Customs, was there before I got there because he called me when I was on the way to meet him there"
"By the time I got there, I could not see him and the call I made to him did not go through. So I went to the legal department and explained to a chief superintendent collector I met there why I was there. He took me to the examination team, one of who took me to the Deputy Comptroller Enforcement.
Before entering the office, the young man handcuffed me despite my protests"
"I protested to the DC that I did not deserve the handcuff and so he should tell his boys to remove the handcuffs from me, which he obliged me. They now took me to where the bus was parked. When I got there, I saw the man that was sent by the owners. Perceiving what I was going through, he pretended not to know anything about the bus and the contents"
"The Customs did 100% examination of the bus. At the end, nothing was found, but the DC had instructed them to hold me that they had been informed that someone was coming to represent the owner, so I must be the one. All my protests fell on deaf ears. I was told to sign the report on the bus with a carton of cartridges"
"I refused, because I did not see any carton of cartridges during the examination. They took me to the Station store and brought out a carton containing some cartridges and said that that was the carton in question, but I still refused because the carton was not in the bus"
"I was thrown into the cell, where I spent twelve days. All my protests that I was not the importer, and did not know the importer, and that I only came to assist a friend who because of his job could not come feel on deaf ears. With constant threats of sending us to jail, the other man that was detained before I came, gave them the particulars of the consignee"
"Attempts to send the matter to court or remand us at prison custody until next year failed. Only God knows why all the attempts failed.
Having realized that they have goofed by breaching our fundamental human rights, they now agreed to give us bail, making it look like they are doing us a favour".
Meanwhile, official sources within the customs have justified the arrest, saying that Dr. Ukor was only released on discretion based on grounds of 'recognition'
Reactions have since continued to trail the incident.
On the Customs social media site named 'media friends of NCS' yesterday, public relations officer of FOU, Jerry Attah reacted to comments on pictures of the FOU prison which was posted on the site.
He said "Should a cell be a comfort zone? A cell should be a place no body wishes to go, a deviant place for economic saboteurs and their accomplices, my opinion though".
On his part, the National Public Relations officer of customs, Mr. Joseph Attah stated that "Deprivation of one's home should be enough for a suspect hence the need to have a cell that is relatively humane.
The cell in FOU is not as bad as being painted but can improve" he said.
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