Task force arrests fake Chinese phone dealer

The task force of the Phone and Allied Products’ Dealers Association of Nigeria has apprehended a Chinese, Mr. Lin Tian Huan, for being in possession of over 10, 000 substandard mobile phones.

The PAPDAN, an umbrella body of phone dealers in the country, said Huan belonged to a Chinese cartel responsible for flooding Computer Village in Lagos with fake and substandard mobile phones passed for Nokia and Samsung brands.

According to the association’s task force team, the suspect was nabbed at No. 4 Cornerstone Estate, opposite Abiola Gardens, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

The team told our correspondent that Huan’s arrest was part of its effort to rid Computer Village of the menace of fake phones.

Upon questioning at the market’s (Computer Village) police post, it was discovered that Huan had illegally imported over 10,000 pieces of different models of mobile phones products into the country.

PAPDAN’s President, Mr. Iyke Nwosu, said the association was committed to assisting the Standards Organisation of Nigeria to eradicate the menace of substandard products at the Computer Village.

While explaining the steps the association has taken to rid the market of counterfeit products, Nwosu said that PAPDAN provided an office for SON officials for the establishment of a market desk.

“Two staff of SON were subsequently deployed to operate from the office in order to mutually fight substandard products,” he said.

He said, “Besides, PAPDAN facilitated a joint trip for SON’s top management to China where they visited some phone factories and met with over 65 owners of phone factories to ensure that these factories no longer manufacture and import substandard phones into the Nigerian market.”

Nwosu also explained that the association and all importers of mobile phones at the Computer Village market agreed that from July 1, 2014, all mobile phones that would be sold in Nigeria would be products that had been duly registered with SON.

These products, he said, “must have brand name marks.” According to him, passed off mobile phones, such as Nokia and Samsung products, will not be stocked and displayed in stores owned by PAPDAN members.

“In addition, the group agreed that all mobile phone brands sold in the Nigerian market needed to have a functional service centre, which would cater to “after sales services.

“It, however, warned that the joint task force of the SON and PAPDAN would confiscate and destroy all products that lacked these requirements,” the PAPDAN president said.

Nwosu added that PAPDAN’s partnership with the SON had led to the registration of over 30 phone brands in the market. Some of the mobile phone brands that have passed SON’s comprehensive e-product registrations are Gowin, M’horse, Bontel, XGP, Tukaro, Q7, and Soloking. Others are U-Boss, Oktec, Maxtel, BML, MBO, Teemur, Aus, Mi-phone, Opsson, and MTK.

Admet, H-mobile, DXD, Teenic, Simba, Ucall, Treesky, and Gionee and Kenxinda are the others.

When contacted, the new Police Public Relations Officer in Lagos State, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, said no Chinese was handed over to the police. “However, there was a suspicion to that effect by traders who later let the man go after they were convinced that what the man had were samples,” the PPRO said.