The Association of Maritime Transport Owners, AMATO, has lamented incessant detention of their trucks by the officers of the Nigeria Police, saying that “they have turned our trucks to their machines”.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos yesterday, President of AMATO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi called on the Area Commander in charge of Area ‘B’ to come to their aid and call his boys to order and leave their trucks alone.
He explained that sometimes their trucks spend between two weeks to sometimes 9months in the hands of these policemen, adding they are released until monies are paid.
Ogungbemi said that members of the group have lost millions to these detentions just as the practice has continued unabated.
The truck owners have threatened to withdraw the vehicles from the ports if urgent steps were not taken to stem the menace of these Policemen.
Speaking on the development, the newly deployed Area Command, Muhammed Nuru, an Assistant Commissioner of Police assured truck owners that the practice will stop henceforth.
He urged truck owners to call his personal numbers in the event of any of such detention and promised to legally take on any officer found wanting with regards to illegal detention.
