Customs Sets Up Committee to Investigate Importation of Military Wears

Eromosele Abiodun

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) has set up a committee to investigate the illegal importation of military wears including camouflages, boots, T-shirts and other items into the country.

The committee is to conduct a thorough investigation with a view to fishing out all those connected to the importations.

The Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Joseph Attah, in a statement, said the inauguration of the committee was held in Abuja.

The statement reads in part: “Following seizures of military hard wears by operatives of Nigeria Customs Service in recent times, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) has inaugurated a high powered investigation panel under the Chairmanship of ACG Sanusi Umar to conduct a very thorough investigation with a view to fishing out all those connected to the unholy importations.”

According to the statement, within the last one month, officers and men of the NCS Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘C’ and Operatives of the Onne Area II Command Port-Harcourt at different times, intercepted a (2X40ft) containers, MRSU 3040288 and MRKU 4909151 found to contain Military Camouflages and other items on the 27th July 2018 and 16th August 2018 respectively.

It added that while the first interception was found to contain 11 bales, each containing 400 pairs of new set of military camouflage uniform totalling 4400 sets; the second interception was found to contain 620 sets of completely sewn military camouflage uniform and caps, 10,100 pieces of inner military T-Shirts, 512 pairs of military jungle boots contrary to Schedule 4(13) of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff which falls under Absolute Prohibition and Section 46(b) of Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA).