Operatives of Anambra State Command of the Nigerian Police Force has discovered a spot between the River Niger and Onitsha main market where Kiwi shoe polish and other products are illegally imported and circulated across the State.
Sources in the state disclosed that the raid operation led by the state commissioner of police Garba Umar led to the discovery of an underground warehouse linking to the famous River Niger where speed boats are used to import the polish and other goods at odd hours, thereby beating the security networks.
Following a tip off by Chief Sam Anyanwutaku a sole importer of Kiwi Polish in Nigeria, that some people were bringing into the country, fake shoe polish and using Onitsha as the main supply base, the police swung into action in conjunction with operatives a of the Special Anti-robbery team, SARS, in the state which led to the uncovering of tunnel beneath the Shopping Mall with Cartons of fake Kiwi polish recovered at the underground warehouse facing the River Niger.
The Commissioner of Police who startled at the ingenuity of those behind the construction of the tunnel that had a large dark space underneath a two- storey shopping mall, said “From what we learned and the complaint that was lodged by someone who has the franchise of Kiwi shoe polish, we received information that there is somebody that is importing fake products here. That importer has no franchise and the owner of the franchise made an official complaint to the police. We followed due process and the place was identified and we discovered a large consignment of the fake product in an underground warehouse adjacent to the River Niger. The suspect must have evacuated the products from the sea as there is a tunnel that faces the River Niger. We are going to find a way of fighting the criminals operating along the river. This kind of illegal importation could have been anything. We are seeing polish and it’s possible some people might also be importing other illegal items through the river. This is, indeed, an eye opener for us and we have to beef up security along the water ways by equipping the Marine Police and the Navy who have a synergy with us. We will go after the suspects and the owner of the warehouse and I, therefore, invite Anambra people to cooperate with us to make our society crime free.”
