2 Chinese arrested with N5.3bn fake tyres in Lagos (Photos)

For allegedly faking tyres, estimated at about N5.3 billon in Nigeria, two Chinese nationals, Taolung Shen and Xu Jing Yau have been arrested by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria(SON).

The agency also announced that it has sealed a warehouse in Satelite Town area of Lagos where the suspects, in collaboration with some Nigerians, were said to have been carrying out the act of faking known brands of tyres and selling same to unsuspecting members of the public.

The suspects, Taolung Shen and Xu Jing Yau, according to SON, had 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.

Conducting newsmen round the warehouse on Sunday, SON’s Director General, Osita Aboloma, described the tyres as agents of death which must have taken lives of many in the country.

“Sometimes as many as five tyres were stuffed into one and they would have bent and ruptured in several places, thereby looking weak and slack.

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“But the Chinese adorned the tyres with new labels and shinny linings to create the impression of being new and healthy,” SON boss said.

According to him, some of the tyres found in the warehouse had post-dated manufacturing dates.

He said through such activities, the Nigerian economy has been paying a dear price both in terms of human and material losses.

But the DG said it is unfortunate that some foreign nationals would capitalise on Nigeria’s quest for foreign investments to abuse the system.

Aboloma advised users of automobile tyres nationwide on the need to be extra vigilant when making purchases of such products.

He advised 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.

On how the taken product was intercepted, a senior official said the SON monitoring team had intercepted a truck-load of tyres on the highway and later traced it to the sealed warehouse.

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