Following the spate of illegal arms importation into the country by importers, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is asking for a meeting with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) with a view to reversing the trend through legal instruments.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali who disclosed this recently in Lagos both agencies would sit down in the meeting to take a critical look at the laws establishing them as to fashion out penalties to be meted out to the offending shippers.
Ali said,”I have asked for a meeting with the Executive Secretary of Shippers’ Council and I said what we will do is, we will look at our own law and look at their own law and within those laws find the penalties we will now begin to mete out to the shippers”.
While stating that the meeting had not held yet, he was however hopeful that their lawyers would be able identify offences from the two laws as well as find appropriate punishment to be applied once the laws were contravened.
“We have not had the meeting yet but I am sure if we meet, we will find, our lawyers will be able to find some offences and find punishment and we begin to assert that. If it is the one that we are going to be blocking the ship completely, if it is to be blacklisting them, but we will find something, I am sure, within the laws to sanction these people and I am sure , if it goes beyond that, the Interpol like you said must have laws that govern this type of thing and NIA should be able to assist us.
“So, we will find all the laws that are necessary to be able to punish shippers that bring such illicit goods”, he assured.
It will be recalled that the Nigeria Customs Service had in the last eight months intercepted and seized arms illegally imported in four batches into the country from Turkey, a development which has gotten both the government and the citizens worried thereby sparking off diplomatic meeting between Nigerian government and its Turkish counterpart with the aim of stemming the tide.
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