Siezure of Large Haul of Sustandards Tyre in Abuja

The battle against the influx of substandard tyres into the country gained more grounds as Standards Organisation of Nigeria’s Operations Department in conjunction with the Federal Capital Territory State office and security operatives on Tuesday swooped on a major dealer in second hand tyres popularly known as “Tokunbo” or “Belgium” tyres confiscating used and expired tyres worth millions of naira.

The raid which was carried out in the early hours of Tuesday caught the dealer (name with-held) unawares as thousands of tyres only recently smuggled into the country were impounded after a tip off. The tyres which were packed by squeezing eight tyres in one were also observed to have had their original DOT numbers scraped off and replaced with embossed bogus dates of manufacture.

The confiscated tyres were evacuated and the dealer handed over to the police for further investigations, this follows on the heel of the recent single largest seizure of substandard tyres ever in Nigeria by SON worth 5 billion naira in Lagos with the perpetrators currently being prosecuted in Lagos.

The Director Operations SON through the team leader Mr. Femi Ajao of the SON Operations department advised “Nigerians to stop the patronage of second hand or used tyre as it is one of the major causes of automobile accidents in the country and also a waste of time and scarce resources because if the tyre does not kill you then you will lose money because before long the tyres which are already weak cannot last long as they are already compromised the way they packed”.

He also warned importers and dealers in Tokunbo tyres to desist from the act as SON is on the look -out for them and if apprehended risk jail term.

Source: ISO