Customs contradicts own commander, says seized vehicles not owned by any senator

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says the 13 vehicles seized from a private residence in Kano state are not owned by any senator.

Joseph Attah, spokesman of the service, said this in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Attah’s comment comes two days after Bala Dole, a zonal commander of customs task force, claimed that the vehicles belong to a senator.

“The vehicles were 30 in number but we were able to trail 13 of them, 12 of which were hidden in the senator’s compound,” said Dole who refused to disclose the identity of the senator.

“We sealed the house and retrieved the vehicles and they are now in our custody.”

But speaking on the floor of the senate on Tuesday, Jibrin Barau, senator representing Kano north, said Dole had him in mind when he made the allegation.

He denied that anything of such happened, and appealed to his colleagues to wade into the matter.

Attah corroborated Barau’s statement, saying the reports linking the senator to the seized vehicles were false and “capable of misleading the public”.

He said the investigations were still ongoing to determine the true owners of the vehicles.

“Since this is capable of misleading the public into wrong insinuations, it is imperative to state the fact that the operatives of NCS compliance team, based on credible intelligence, trailed the movement of some smuggled vehicles from Maigatari, Jigawa state, to a house at Magaji Rumfa, GRA Kano,” Attah’s statement read.

“On February 7, 2017,  some 11 vehicles, 10 Hilux and one Land cruiser jeep were retrieved from the house at Magaji Rumfa GRA, Kano and taken for detention at the headquarters of Customs Area Command Kano.

“The customs officers discovered there were no occupants in the house, hence the gate was forced opened to retrieve the smuggled vehicles. The investigation into the smuggling of the vehicles is still on to establish the true owner.

“It is clear that whoever introduced the senator angle to the story is out for pure mischief and does not represent the position of the service on this issue.”