The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), on Monday, started the grounding of over 60 private jets flying in the country airspace over alleged non-payment of import duty.
Some of the grounded luxury aircraft include Bombardier BD-700 Global 6000, BD-700 Global 6500, BD-700 Global 7500, among others.
The aircraft were grounded at the International Wings of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.
It was gathered that majority of the affected aircraft were foreign registered flying in the country.
There are reports that duties are not being paid on the majority of private jets currently in the country, with the Nigeria Customs Service seeking to recover unpaid import duties running into several billions of naira.
The Customs had asked private jet owners to proceed on a verification exercise with the government. The exercise was to determine defaulters in the payment of import duty.
The NCS had in October 2024, threatened to ground over 60 private jets owned by very important persons in the country over unpaid import duty.
It however halted the process by announcing the extension of the verification exercise for private jet owners by one month, from October 14, 2024, to November 14, 2024.
