Findings have revealed that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has beamed its searchlight on some bonded terminals which engage in smuggling of consignments from the ports to their facility, thereby evading mandatory duty payment.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, a source very close to the NCS revealed that some cargoes have been found to have left the seaports without going through the requisite checks and formalities.
According to the source, who wouldn’t want his name in print: “The right procedure before a container leaves the port for any bonded terminal is that the Customs Area Controller in charge of the port must have signed the Transire documents of the container before such container will be escorted to the bonded terminal by the Customs police or operatives of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the area.
“If the Transire form has not been signed, the container cannot leave the port. Even after the form is signed, if the Customs police or the FOU operatives don’t accompany the container, the cargo cannot leave the port.This is the proper procedure for stemming of containers to bonded terminals from the ports.
“However, findings have revealed that some containers have left the port without these procedures being done. It has come to the notice of Customs that some bonded terminals operators are using the current import and export guidelines as an avenue for smuggling or duty evasion.
“Goods meant for the bonded terminals must be properly deposited at the bonded terminal. The goods can only be delivered to the owner after assessment, payment of duty, examination and release out of Customs control before the goods will be delivered to the consignee.
“These dubious acts are becoming prevalent among bonded terminals that have affiliations to seaport terminal operators. I can assure you that measures have been put in place to track and trace bonded terminals bound importations to minimise revenue loss.
“Any bonded terminal found culpable will be shut down and the promoters arrested.”
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