Several car dealer shops were shut down across Lagos on Sunday by the Nigerian Customs Service.

The raid affected some major operators like Coscharis, Globe Motors, Stallion Motors, Skymit Motors and Carlink. Operatives of the Customs Service were alleged to have invaded some of the car marts and sealed them off without giving explanations.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the raid was conducted by members of the Comptroller General’s special strike force attached to the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’, Ikeja.

They stormed the popular Berger Bus stop, along Apapa-Oshodi Express Road and other major car dealer premises across Lagos in search of smuggled vehicles and subsequently shut down the car marts until further notice.

The order to seal the car marts, it was learnt, was on the orders of the Comptroller General of the Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd). The operators were accused of retailing smuggled vehicles in their shops.

The Customs Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, who confirmed the development, said the operation didn’t affect car dealers who were not selling smuggled cars.

According to him, “…a number of car marts were shutdown based on credible information that there were smuggled vehicles in these car marts, but the sealing is just temporary. As from this week we will assess the situation and advised them accordingly as to what they should do.”

On the number of car marts shut down, he said: “As of now I don’t have the numbers but those not involved in any bad business were not shutdown. But I can confirm that some numbers have been shutdown. Within the week, customs will take a look at the records of each vehicle in these car marts and appropriate actions will be taken.”

Attah said that no arrests were made and that the action was not taken to inflict harm on anyone but to ensure that government got its due revenue.

“The target is not really to bring any unnecessary hardship to any individual, the idea is to see the possibility of either seizure or recovery of revenue for such vehicles,” he added.

Some of the established car dealers affected in the raid include Affordable Cars Limited, Carlink Limited, InehmicAutos, Globe Motors, COSCHARIS, Skymit Motors, Arrowhead Motors, Wonder Wheels Motors and Stallion Motors.

Ripples Nigeria