Tin Can Customs introduces Standard Operating Procedure to curb ‘flying’ of containers

The Tin Can Island port command of the Nigeria Customs Service has introduced a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on use of transire as part of efforts to check illegal and fraudulent movement of containers out of the port otherwise called ‘container flying’ without payment of appropriate Customs duty.

Controller of the command, Comptroller Adekunle Oloyede who disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists on the allegation of incessant flying of containers at the Tin can Island port said henceforth every transire of containers transfer to bonded warehouses must come with a landing certificate.

He said while the command has not had any case of container flying since he took over leadership, it however, recently discovered that six exotic cars were fraudulently infused into the list of approved vehicles to be stemmed out from the Tin can Island port.

He said, “Since I took over, we have not heard any case of such (flying of containers) but about two weeks ago, we had intelligence that some of the transires of vehicles that I approved, some vehicles that were not supposed to be part of the list were infused into the list and I can tell you, six of the vehicles are in the Enforcement Unit.

“While they were trying to pass through the gate, the gate officer saw it and he informed me and I told him to liaise with the DC Enforcement, and from there, we removed the six vehicles.

“Because of that, I arranged a meeting between Five Star Logistics, the two terminal operators: Clarion and Classic and we entered into another Standard Operating Procedures for transire whereby every transire must come back with a landing certificate signed from the destination. Without that landing certificate, after one or two weeks or maximum one month, I will not sign any other transire to those locations again. That is the Standard Operating Procedure which we agreed upon and to fine-tune this procedure, we are also having a meeting of all stakeholders before the end of this week so that we could look at issues.

“Yes, there could be issues but we are on top of it. That’s why we could take six exotic cars infused into one of the transires and then they are with us in the Enforcement Unit.”

On the alleged 19 missing containers destined to Clarion bonded terminal from the Tin can Island port, Oloyede said the command has set up a committee to investigate the matter.

He, however, noted that nobody can ascertain whether the containers contained arms as alleged by the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) 100 Percent Compliance team.

He said, “Nobody can say there are arms there. We know how to profile the exporter; we know how to profile the importer. We will go historical and from history, we will be able to know if the exporter or the importer are in that trade of arms. So, you have to give us time to officially look into this and get back to you.”