The Standards Organization of Nigeria has arrested two
Chinese nationals, Taolung Shen and Xu Jing Yau, who were said to have dealt in
substandard tyres worth over N5bn.
The suspects, according to a statement on Sunday, were
paraded following their arrest, and the sealing of the warehouse where they had
been cloning different sizes of tyres under different brand names.
The suspects, the statement added, churned out the
substandard tyres into the Nigerian market under brand names such as Powertrac,
Aptany, Harmony, Duraturn, Bearway, City Tour, Winda, Glory, Chachland, City
Grand, Grandsonte and Sunny.
According to SON, the suspects brought the substandard
tyres into Nigeria by stuffing them into one another.
“Sometimes as many as five tyres were stuffed into one
and the tyres would have bent and ruptured in several places, thereby looking
weak and slack.
“But the Chinese adorned the tyres with new labels and
shinny linings to create the impression of being new and healthy,” SON said.
Some of the tyres found in the warehouse had post-dated
manufacturing dates.
The agency’s Director General, Osita Aboloma, who
conducted journalists round the warehouse, described the tyres as dead on
arrival, saying allowing the sale of such tyres in the country amounted to
“surreptitiously taking away the lives of millions of Nigerians.”
He observed that by stuffing the tyres into one another
and conveying them through the sea from China to Lagos, the quality of the
tyres had already been compromised.
Aboloma also noted that the crude way the tyres were
separated on arrival in Nigeria and the poor storage facility, without
sufficient aeration, in the warehouse had further compromised their quality.
“The SON Directorate of Compliance intercepted one of
their trucks on the highway, tracked it and then this.
“You can see the amount of danger that these people are
posing to our people and our economy just because they want to make huge profit
at the expense of the lives of Nigerians.
“It is a clear case of investing millions in illicit
business in order to take away the lives of millions of Nigerians, to destroy
the lives of millions of Nigerians. If we allow something like this, it will
amount to killing Nigerians,” Aboloma said.
The DG said there would be no hiding place for people who
dealt in adulterated products in the country.
“I want to reiterate that there is no hiding place for
those who deal in substandard products as they would be caught and their
products confiscated. Today’s feat is an example,” he said.
Aboloma advised users of automobile tyres nationwide on
the need to be extra-cautious when making purchases of such products.
He urged tyre users to henceforth demand that
dealers indicate the manufacturing dates on the receipts, so as to make the
seller take responsibility on any product sold by them.
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