By Abdallah el-Kurebe
Gamji Motors, owners of the 48 vehicles impounded by the Sokoto, Kebbi Zamfara Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service in Sokoto on Thursday has confirmed that it never intended to evade payment of Customs Duties on the impounded cars.
Speaking exclusively to our reporter in a telephone interview, the Managing Director, Alhaji Muntari Muhammed (popularly known as Muntari Mafia), who is also the Vice Chairman of Northwest zone of the Car Dealers Association of Nigeria, denied any insinuation that the cars were hidden to avoid payment of duties.
According to him, “As vice chairman of Car Dealers Association of Nigeria, Northwest zone, it will be wrong for anyone to insinuate and conclude that I could evade a duty I am so conversant with. This is my business and I know that payment of customs duties is not only necessary but also compulsory.
“The fact of the matter is that these cars have been there before the new rule was introduced by the Nigeria Customs and when that was introduced, everyone knows that customs duties for that number of cars is so much. The cars were not displayed for sale because we were making efforts to ensure that the duties are paid before we take them for sale. If we intended to avoid payment of duties on the cars, the cars would have been found at our sales spot,” Mohammed exclusively told our reporter.
He emphasised that thinking along the line of evasion was out of the question because “this is a business we are known for years and we are law-abiding. We shall do what is required of us and move on.”
It could be recalled that the Nigeria Customs Service last week Thursday night in Sokoto raided a house and impounded 48 vehicles said to be illegally imported through the land borders.
The vehicles are old models Lexus jeeps (2007 model) and Toyota Avensis (2005 model).
A source at the Customs Area Command had said on condition of anonymity that they Command was led by intelligence report and that Mohammed had provided the keys of the cars to the Service for evacuation to the Command headquarters.
“He provided their keys and we moved them to our offices. He has already come forward to claim it and as it is in this kind of situation, we are calculating what is due to the government with necessary penalties for him to pay. If he meets all our criteria by paying the dues and the penalties, we will then take a decision on whether to release the vehicles or not,” the source had said.
