Nigerian Customs continue crackdown on car dealers in Lagos

In continuation of its war on smuggling, which started last week, men of the Nigerian customs services (NCS) were seen by our reporter closing down car marts along Lateef Jakande road, Agidingbi in Ikeja on Saturday.

The Customs, last week, commenced a major crackdown on some car marts suspected to have smuggled vehicles into the country through the land borders.

It was reported that members of the Comptroller General of the service’s strike force and officers attached to the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’, Ikeja, stormed the popular Berger bus stop, along Apapa-Oshodi Express Road, and other major car dealers’ premises across Lagos in search of smuggled vehicles and subsequently shut down the car marts until further notice.

It was learnt that the car marts were closed on the orders of the Comptroller General of the Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), for allegedly retailing smuggled vehicles in the shops.

The Customs Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, who confirmed the development, however, denied that car dealers, who are not involved in selling smuggled cars were shut down.

He said: “Yes, a number of car marts were shutdown based on credible information that there were smuggled vehicles in these car marts, but the sealing is just temporary. As from this week, we will assess the situation and advise them accordingly as to what they should do.”