By Uzor Odigbo
Operatives of the Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service on Wednesday disclosed how die hard smugglers have devised means of converting fake chassis number of vehicles through the border posts.
Controller of the command, Comptroller Uba Mohammed Garba, while conducting journalists round the seizures recorded between February and March, said his officers impounded 21 exotic cars along the border post, which he said contravened importation procedures.
The customs boss said smugglers would suppress and replace the original chassis of vehicles with their own thus present fake documents to security agencies to perfect the illicit act .
He explained that officers and men of the command were able to tackle the tricks put in place by the smugglers ,which in turn resulted to 21 seizures of vehicles recorded in the last five weeks.
He called on sister agencies of the government along the border post to be vigilant and alert with the latest gimmick by smugglers of vehicles, even as he stressed the need for proper scrutiny of customs documentation on vehicles.
On revenue collection within the period, he said the Command has so far generated the sum of N1,260,684,226.91.
Primarily, the Customs boss, noted that a car smuggler, Abdul Umar with 2015 NYSC identification card was also arrested by operatives of the command over falsification of document and me dropping.
According to the Area Controller,Umar attempted to smuggle Renault Megane with Duty Paid Value of N522,970.47 into the country.
The vehicle with diplomatic plate number,was intercepted on Tuesday within the border community.
At the time of his arrest, Umar an indigene of Kaduna state, said to be working with some influential Nigerians.
Mohammed said: “When he was arrested, there was a letter containing number which states, call these numbers, otherwise call the IG. When we discovered this, we alerted the enforcement unit for investigation.
“In the 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.
While interrogating with the suspect, he denied having the IG’s number neither working for any influential Nigerians.
“I am a corper of 2015 batch but have not collected my NYSC certificate. I have problem with NYSC that is why have not submit my ID card in order to collect the certificate. I didn’t say I know the IG. I only assisted the owner of the car to pass through the border.
“The owner of the car is around. I don’t know anything about the numbers and diplomatic plate number on the card.
“Similarly, the intensified operation of the Enforcement unit has drastically reduced smuggling activities to the barest minimum.
“So far, we have seized 4,745 bags of 50kg foreign rice which is equivalent to over 8 trailer trucks of rice worth N85,504,000. 27 jerry cans of vegetable oil of 25litres each, 34 bags of sugar.”
Among the seized items were 68 parcels of Tramadol, 10 parcels of Cannabis, 19 boxes of frozen seafood, 24 cartons Maggi were seized among others.
