Stop auctioning our trucks, haulage operators beg Customs

Haulage operators under the aegis of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) have pleaded with the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to stop auctioning trucks arrested for carrying banned and other prohibited items. This is even as the group urged the National Assembly to intervene in the matter since truckers don’t do import and export business.

According to a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune by the leadership of AMATO, the haulage operators stated that they are not smugglers, and only carry goods on behalf of the owners.

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“Firstly, we recognize the important role Customs plays not only in our Nation’s economy, but also to ensure that our country is not turned into a dumping ground.

“However, we truckers are using this medium to draw the attention of the National Assembly to the age long misjudgment that we truckers in the maritime Industry have been going through, due to the nefarious activities of some dubious Importers/Exporters and their collaborator agents who use our trucks for their illicit activities.

“We therefore use this medium to plead with the honorable members of the National Assembly to prevail on the management of the NCS to stop auctioning our trucks and release all arrested trucks for carrying containers said to contain Customs offending goods.

“We considered the said offenses to be none of our fault for the following reasons: We are neither the Importer nor the Exporter of the goods in the containers; We are not privy to the documents used to clear the containers; We only get involved when all the necessary payment and clearing processes is said to have being completed.

“Our involvement is just the carriage of the containers, and so, it is unfair to be using truckers as scapegoats for the offence committed by others,” the truck owners stated.