· Promotes 8 Officer For Good Work
Following serial importation of arms through the Tin Can Island Port, the Nigeria Customs Service yesterday put all its commands and officers on red alert, directing that henceforth, all imported cargoes must be inspected 100 percent and subjected to thorough profiling.
Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) disclosed this at the Tin Can Island port, where he also confirmed Shipping Position Daily reports on Tuesday that the command intercepted yet another container bearing 470 pump action riffles.
Ali indicated that he would be having a meeting with the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria today (Friday) on account of the arm imports which he said is the handiwork of some Nigerian syndicate who are based in Turkey.
He said that henceforth, Customs would no longer adhere to the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ directive of the Federal Government nor adhere to global best practices in the clearance of goods, as this might jeopardise national security, life and properties of Nigerians.
He confirmed that the latest seizures of 470 guns were concealed with elbow plumbing plastics manifested on the Bill of Laden. The container number was CMAU189817/8, it is 20- foot.
The guns were imported by firm simply identified as Great James Oil and Gas Limited while the vessel that conveyed it is MV Arkas Africa owned by a shipping company called Hullblyth.
The importation of the 1, 100 riffles were also carried out by the same person
"Fortunately, tomorrow, we are going to have the first diplomatic meeting with the Ambassador of Turkey especially on this issue. The President has spoken on this issue at international fora and he (Ambassador) has been mandated to sit with us, that was why we tell you it has gone beyond the shores"
"If we had gone by the declarant, we would have passed this container, 70 percent of what comes in are through false declaration, this is why we find it difficult to execute the ease of doing business, if we had depended on the document, this container would have gone"
"This means that we have to subject all containers to 100 percent examination and this delays cargoes belonging to genuine importers. Until most Nigerians do the right thing and be honest in the way they do business, it would be difficult for customs to clear goods within the time frame that is globally accepted"
"If we do it, this is what we end up with, I think the safety and security of this country is important to Nigeria Customs Service than the money we would collect in terms of duty"
"Customs is working and we are not going to rest on our oars, we had a meeting with the Comptrollers yesterday and we have given them a matching order, now that Tin Can Island is becoming too difficult, they would want to look forward to other places, so this is why we have placed the seaports, land and airport on red alert. We would subject every import through proper scrutiny, every container and cargo henceforth must be profiled and checks must be done" he said.
The Customs boss also said that the service has also enhanced its patrol in line with Section 147 of CEMA which gives her the right to go into any premises and search for suspected smuggled items.
"Nigerians would have to bear with us; at this critical times we would have to do our duty thoroughly beyond the ease of doing business, when we get back to normalcy then we would go back to ease of doing business and conform with global best practice, we want to safeguard life and properties of Nigerians" he stressed.
He also said that eight customs officers have been promoted for the role played in un-covering the first two series of gun import through the Tin Can command.
He also assured that all data from investigations of Customs would be placed in the office of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
Ali also said that the service is getting scanners before the end of the year.
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