Ibadan — Parading the seized cars to journalists in Ibadan, the Customs Area Controller, Mr. Zakka Audu, said they were intercepted at Kokobilo village in the early hours of last Sunday as they were being ferried into Oyo State capital by a syndicate of smugglers.

The vehicles include one Nissan Jeep Xterra, one Toyota RAV4 Jeep, 2 Mercedes Benz cars, 3 Volkswagen Golf , one Toyota Starlet and Honda CRV, among others.

According to the Customs boss, as soon as the smugglers sighted his operatives on surveillance duties in the area, "they quickly abandoned the vehicles and took to their heels."

But the drivers of two other vehicles in the fleet escaped with their loot, he said.

Audu told newsmen that the escaped smugglers drove dangerously in their desperation to beat the Customs operatives; a development which he said made one of the duo to hit an unsuspecting commercial bus of which some of the passengers sustained injuries.

"We restrain ourselves from using firearms because the Customs Service believes that it is better for smugglers to escape than for our operatives to kill innocent citizens," Mr. Audu stated, while justifying the non engagement of the fleeing smugglers in fire duel by his men.

But he used the forum to advise members of the public to be more patriotic by coming out to pay the necessary import duties on their imported vehicles rather than engaging in the dangerous game of smuggling.

The Customs boss remarked that importers of the intercepted vehicles would be allowed to pay duty and collect their vehicles if the vehicles are within the 10 years age limit approved under the nation's laws saying the Customs is offering them this "amnesty" in its determination to shore up its capital base in line with the set target of N30.4billion income generation for this fiscal year.

Such amnesty, Mr. Audu further stated, would be applied to the textiles sector as well, just as he explained that not all imported textiles are contraband. Specifically, he explained that lining for jackets in addition to guinea brocades are not contraband.

To this end, the Customs Area Controller told newsmen that his Command would soon mount a massive awareness campaign to educate members of the public on the activities of the Command with a view to actualizing its dream of reducing to the barest minimum incidences of smuggling into the Nigerian Borders.

He, therefore, urged the public to join hand with the command in curbing incessant incidences of smuggling by unscrupulous elements who always try to evade import duties on imported vehicles.