The Shippers’ Association of Lagos State (SALS) has described as unpalatable the news that one of the containers belonging to one of its members was found to be carrying 200 packs of highly compressed item suspected to b cocaine.
In a press release issued in Lagos on Tuesday, the President of the association, Rev. Jonathan Nicole stated that the association regretted the involvement of one of its own in the saga even as he described Nigerite as a reputable multinational company which had never been involved in insolvency.
Nicol observed that the company had been shipping for so many years when it was directly handling its importation.
“Shippers’ Association Lagos State regrets this unpalatable news. As far as we are concerned, Nigerite is a very reputable multinational Company and has never been involved in any insolvency, it has been a shipper for so many years when it was directly handling its importations”, said.
He blamed the development on the company the shipment was outsourced which he said raised the Form M and sourced for funds, bought the the materials and shipped the consignments to Nigeria through the Tincan Island ports in Lagos.
According to him, “We were informed that this particular shipment was handled by an out sourcing company who raised the Form M and sourced for funds, bought the materials with their own money and shipped it into Nigeria though the Tin Can Island Port in Apapa, Lagos. The outsourcing company then contracted an agent in Nigeria to handle the clearing from Customs the 17x20ft containers.
“The outsourcing company had access to the consignments during loading and repackaging at their own warehouse abroad. Something must have gone wrong somewhere during the process”.
He therefore advised shippers to be very cautious of whoever is shipping goods on their behalf.
It will be recalled that the Tincan Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) last week intercepted a 1x20ft container belonging to Nigerite Nigeria Limited found with sacks containing drugs that were not declared on the cargo manifest.
The cocaine was allegedly imported by Nigerite Nigeria Limited through through a licensed agency named Elevation Transactions Limited.
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