CRD Seals Fake Courier Companies

The heat is now on illegal courier operators as the Courier Regulatory Department (CRD) of Nipost empowered to regulate activities in the postal and courier sector has stepped up efforts to sanitize the industry and rid it of quacks and illegal operators.
Last week in Benin City, Edo State capital, the operatives of the department swooped on three fake courier companies that run high profile courier business in the ancient Benin Kingdom.
Addressing newsmen after the hunt at the head office in Lagos last Thursday, Simon Emeje, senior assistant postmaster-general and head of CRD disclosed the names of the companies as DDS Courier which he said is owned by Mazik Resources International (Nig) Limited with office located at 145, Murtala Mohammed Way, Benin, DC International Limited which operates at 34, Sakpomba Road, Benin City but has its headquarters in Spain, and So-Good Enterprises, Benin with headquarters in Italy.
Emeje also reiterated that some scrupulous individuals hide in the guise of other corporate names to indulge in illegal courier activities. He said DDS Courier is a non governmental Organisation owned by Malik Resources (Nig) Limited.
Emeje explained that the operation in Benin was successful and that the culprits were arrested put in police custody.  According to him, offenders will be brought to Lagos this week to continue the process of prosecution. Also he said pieces of evidence ranging from delivery notes, airway bills, and note books that recorded movement of mails recovered from the fake courier companies showed complicity in the illegal courier business. Also the culprits made confessional statements to the men of the CRD Squad.
It is an offence to do courier business without courier license and Emeje said the Act stipulates that for anybody to do a courier business, he must go through  a registration process and can only be given a courier license if the person is qualified . Emeje disclosed that the three fake courier companies operated the business even without application expressing their intent to want to register. Emeje described the development as dangerous.  “This is dangerous to the society because if you patronize them without license, when trouble comes they could escape. So it’s dangerous to the society. You are sending a precious thing through these fake courier companies and you are not sure they will deliver. When you deal with a company that does not have a government license, you are taking a dangerous position and that is why we go all out to ensure that those who are not licensed should not operate,” he elaborated.  Emeje explained that the federal government put the CRD in place to ensure that every company that wants to operate must be licensed.
He said the department has recorded reasonable impact if we compare what the situation was like before the department came on board seven years ago and what the industry looks like now. Emeje said that when the department started that there was a very long list of illegal courier companies with their addresses stated clearly and with those addresses, Emeje said they could be located   but after sporadic raids and arrests those addresses vanished thereby giving rise to the development of another form of illegal courier business called faceless illegal courier operators or portfolio courier operators. In all  he said about 80 percent awareness have been created on the illegal activities of courier companies and advised the public to be weary of  the promoters of such activities.