Fierce looking police officers have reportedly been deployed to the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos where they have started arresting freight forwarders or anyone with no business inside the port.
Shipping Position Daily gathered that the move was prompted as a result of the recent increase in vandalization of imported vehicles at some of the port terminals, especially, Five Star Logistics Terminal.
The hoodlums, who now access the port under the guise of being freight forwarders, allegedly bribe the Five Star Security officials in order to gain access into the terminal.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily on Wednesday, Chairman of Tin Can Chapter of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Prince Segun Oduntan confirmed the recent arrest by the police.
He however said that some of his members who were erroneously arrested have since been released.
Addressing the agents at a stakeholders meeting which he summoned at the chapter, Oduntan urged ANLCA members not to be caught unawares about the new changes taking place at Nigerian ports.
He stressed the need for agents to go ahead and regularise their registration with the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and to ensure they register with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for their port passes.
Speaking, he said "This meeting is to reiterate to our members that the port is not a play ground area, you must have something to do for you to be around the port. Gone are the days when people come to the port to loiter around, today, you must belong to a company, an association, you must have something doing for you to access the port
"We also charge them not to be caught unawares, they should go for their CRFFN registration. Meanwhile NPA has not started issuing port passes, but at least when they have their receipts and temporary cards from CRFFN, you can be double sure of access into the port"
"There was a report of vehicles being vandalised and theft of vehicle parts, this is result of multitude of people accessing Five Star Terminal.
The agents that are our members were not arrested"
"Today, the police came for sensitization from the Inspector General to warn people that if you don't have anything doing, you must not come to the port"
As the time of filing this report, our correspondent was yet to ascertain the number of people that were arrested.
Multiple sources at the port however confirmed that many freight forwarders affected are still cooling their feet in jail.
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