Unlike his Idiroko counterpart, Chairman Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Seme Chapter, Patrick Ozobialu, has said that car smuggling is no longer a threat at Seme border.
Chairman ANLCA Idiroko, Timothy Abel, had recently told SHIPS & PORTS DAILY, that car smuggling has assumed a worrisome dimension at Idiroko border and takes place mostly at night with the active connivance of Customs officers.
“These officers prefer to attend to smugglers than to attend to agents because they can get immediate money for their own pockets rather than fighting for the ones that will go to federal government purse,” Abel had told SHIPS & PORTS DAILY.
Ozobialu however, also in a chat with SHIPS & PORTS DAILY, said that Seme border hardly experiences the illicit activity of car smuggling as ninety five percent of cars that pass through the border are genuinely cleared.
He said that car smuggling no longer trends at Seme because agents operating at the border are better informed on the benefits of paying correct duty.
“They no longer smuggle cars at Seme as it used to be. In fact ninety five percent of the cars you see that comes through Seme pay complete duty. Even sometimes they pay more than what they pay in Lagos because they found peace in the payment of duty. You know sometimes ignorance permits one to do what he may not like to do but because they now see the truth they now follow suit in the payment of duty,” Ozobialu stated.
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