Customs dismisses allegations of sabotage during auction of seized cars, others

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has dismissed allegations that the sale of overdue cargoes in its custody was compromised.

The seized items include cars and machine accessories among others.

The service's deputy comptroller and national public relations officer, Timi Bomodi, made the clarification in a chat with journalists on Sunday in Abuja.

He said: “All these seizures that are made as a result of long stay at the port among other reasons, have prescribed ways of disposing of them.

“If you make seizures, you have to seek condemnation in court

It is after the condemnation that you have the authority to auction them out.

“All these things are stated by law and as a service, we are mindful of falling short of the law.

“So, we want to do everything as prescribed by the law and these things take time.

“You have members of the public that think the process is slow but they do not know what happens in the back end. So, we are trying to dot the ‘t’s and cross the ‘i’s.

“This is so that when we put these vehicles out there we will know that we are meeting the aspirations of the people and expectations of government.”