SON seizes N150m fake phones

The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has evacuated over 1, 000 cartons of phones in Kano and arrested a Chinese woman, owner of the fake phone warehouse, Yi Fang Communication, located at Gumel Road, Bompai, Kano.

Speaking in Kano, Engr. Yahaya Bukar, the head of SON in the state, said the agency’s enforcement team carried out the clampdown on the firm following a tip-off.

He said the action was necessitated by the discovery that the Chinese woman was involved in the importation of substandard brand of phones into country.

Bukar said SON initially stormed the warehouse for enforcement purposes, evacuated products worth over N150 million and eventually arrested the woman.

“During the first visit, a total of 1, 003 cartons of Techno and Geonee substandard phones were evacuated,” he added.

He said that the phones were tested and failed the basic examinations, adding: “The phone are not registered or certified by SON. There are no required import documents on the product that can be retrieved from the importer by name, Xiulin, popularly called “Sky” in Nigeria.”

He said that the firm-Yi Fangk Communications Ltd would be prosecuted for importation of substandard products and unauthorised use of NIS logo, adding that the confiscated phones would be destroyed after further laboratory analysis.