The Federal Operations Units (FOU A) of the Nigeria Customs Service has said that until importers and car dealers start presenting genuine documents on how they carried out their vehicle importations; the unit will not stop seizing vehicles at houses and car marts.
The Controller of the Unit, Comptroller Mohammed Uba, disclosed this last week in Lagos when he displayed 59 seized new vehicles of different brands that were imported into the country under questionable circumstances.
Speaking during the display, he said that for some of the sports utility vehicles that were bullet proof require an End Users Certificate which is usually obtained from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).
“We seized 59 vehicles of different brand, 49 of them are 2017 model with a DPV of N1. 3billion. Some of these vehicles are bullet proof jeeps and whether you import them properly or not there is need for the End User Certificate from NSA. So because of the security implications criminals can use this and be attacking innocent individuals. So it for this reasons that whenever you have bullet proof vehicles or containers you to get the certificate. The total cost of the vehicles is N1, 76 billion and the duty of one of the vehicles is N27million you can now imagine”
He also advised importers of the seized vehicles to come with documents to prove that they have paid all the necessary dues they are supposed to pay.
“So you can see you can see how people can take risk. When we get our vehicles we keep them, if you have documents that the vehicles were genuinely imported and the necessary duties were paid we will release them but when you don’t have the paper they will be automatically be seized. For some time now you hold someone vehicles for more than 6 days now and the person has not shown up and we have detained the person’s representative and the person is yet to show up. We are just waiting for a period of 30 days and if they person didn’t show up we will follow the legal process. The more they struggle the more we seize them. I have warned them to stay clea
r from the South west zone. 41 of the vehicles were seized from a hidden house in Ikoyi the rest were seized from a automobile mart in Festac”
He also stated that imported vehicles are being intercepted on the road by Customs officers because the agent or the importer failed to pay correct duty on such vehicles.
“I earlier on said that when you are clearing your goods, it is not the custom officer that asked you to go and buy your goods; you decided to do that so you can fill in anything you want as regards to the information. You attached it with you PAAR and invoice and you will go and make your declaration. We have every right to look at your declaration if what you entered in your documentation does not fit in with what we see on ground, demand notice will be issued against you. If it is outright contradiction, the goods will be seized. While you have problems of intervention on the road it means they compromised, the actual duty has not been collected. The importer, agent and other security agencies, there is a level of conspiracy among them. Anywhere we feel that federal government money has not been collected that money must be collected that is why you see interceptions on the roads”, he concluded.
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