Posted by By Francis Ugwoke on
An importer and customs agent were on Friday night at about 8pm caught by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) removing two containers of textile goods out of the Apapa port.
An importer and customs agent were on Friday night at about 8pm caught by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) removing two containers of textile goods out of the Apapa port.
The importer and his agents, whose names were not disclosed however ran away, abandoning their goods, two drivers and three conductors.
A security officer with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) who may have given the smugglers a cover also ran away on sighting officers of the Customs.
The two containers, Nos. MSKU 3485256 and POCU 0024196, were suspected to have been removed from a ship straight to the warehouse (shed 11) on lease to a private operator.
Customs Area Controller, Apapa Port, Mr. Rasheed Taiwo, who is about two weeks old in the seaport, told newsmen on Saturday, that the Service is looking for the importer and agent responsible for the economic crime.
Taiwo swore that the importer will be brought to book not just for importing contraband goods but also for removing them without allowing the items to go through customs procedures.
About half of the content in the container had been removed by the time Customs struck at the port.
The Controller who disclosed that he caught the smugglers while on a patrol in the night, admitted that he cannot rule out collaboration between the importer and some personnel of government agencies in the port
"After 5 pm, nobody is supposed to come into this place....but on getting here, Friday night, we heard some noise, we peeped and discovered that some people were inside. We saw two containers, one of them open, and we decided to come into the shed", he said.
According to him, an official of the NPA who showed them the way into the warehouse ran away immediately.
Taiwo explained that what the owners of the warehouse did was to open one of the gates at the back through which a 911 Mercedes truck taking goods from the containers can escape.
Expressing surprise that the warehouse could be left open at such late hour, the Controller said that this explains why he suspects collaboration of other agencies personnel in the whole exercise.
"You can see the proximity of this place with the sea, there are so many options, it is just a question of loading it into that truck, putting the back of the truck very close to the sea, there will be a boat in which they load these things.", he said
He added, "if this is going on, there is no way any customs officer will be able to know, unless there is a patrol team ... unfortunately, customs is not maintaining any patrol in the seaport because security of the ports is not with the customs".
Taiwo said that the Customs also arrested the owner of the vehicles, but explained that the transporter is claiming that he was only brought in to off-load the goods.
"But he (owner of vehicle) knows that this is illegality, he knows this is criminal.. for you to have come inside the shed, 8 o' clock in the night without letting anybody know, there must be an intention, and the intention can never be a good one...but for money, people can do a lot of things", he said.
The controller said that with the container numbers, the Customs will investigte the ship that brought the goods and eventually the importer.
Taiwo added that although the quantity of the goods may not be so much, "what is baffling is the method used in trying to get these goods out of the port".
"We shall get at the ship, if not gone, if we get the captain of the ship, we shall apprehend him", he said.
It would be recalled that the Customs Headquarters had about five weeks ago sent a Task Force to Apapa Port on allegations that so many contraband goods were cleared cleared through the port.