Customs Boss Claims 90% of Cars in Nigeria Smuggled
• Customs may begin stop and search to confirm duties are paid on cars
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), claimed on Thursday that 90 per cent of cars in Nigeria are smuggled.
Ali who spoke to newsmen claimed that the smuggling was by unscrupulous individuals.
He claimed that the ongoing raids on car marts was mainly to ensure that the vehicles came into the country genuinely or smuggled.
He said that those found not to have entered the country genuinely will be forced to pay duties before being released.
He told newsmen, . “We want to use this opportunity to ensure that cars within our borders are fully customised, which means duties are paid on them. We are looking for revenue from everywhere and we have these people who brought in vehicles and failed to pay duties. What we are doing now, we are just enforcing the law, which allows us to collect revenue on behalf of Nigeria and also ensure those vehicles you and I will go and buy have genuine papers that are roadworthy. If you meet our officers on the road and they ask for the papers, if they discover you have not paid your duties, they will seize the vehicles. We are doing all these to save car buyers from running into trouble.”
“The law allows us to stop you and ask for the car papers, if your papers are intact, we thank you and bless you, if it is otherwise, we will ask you to pay the duties. If we find out you are not a smuggler, you are just an innocent buyer, we will value the car and ask you to pay the required duties on the car and you will be freed”.
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