THE 100 percent Compliance Team of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), has petitioned the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Bode Adeyinka Adeleke over unbridled harassment, intimidation, detention and outright extortion of their members by officers of the Zonal Enquiry Bureau (ZEB) of the Nigerian Police Force.
This is even as the freight forwarders accused the ZEB of being worse than the discredited SARS.
The Chairman of the 100 percent Compliance Team of NAGAFF, Alhaji Tanko Ibrahim in a petition letter copied to the Senate Committee on Customs, Deputy Inspector -Genera of Police (Maritime), Assistant Inspector -Genera of Police (Maritime), Commissioner of police, (Western Ports), Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), and the Registrar of the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), accused the ZEB of the police of writing series of invitation letters to their members under the guise of facilitating and investigation, only for agents to be subjected to interrogations and detention over a long-gone consignment.
Alhaji Tanko who doubles as a board member of NAGAFF and CRFFN lamented that his office is inundated with complaints from aggrieved freight forwarders who accuse the ZEB of being worse than the discredited SARS.
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According to the petition, “We write to express our profound frustrations at the unbridled harassment, intimidation, detention and outright extortion of our members by the Zonal Enquiry Bureau (ZEB) unit in the police headquarters.
“Invitation letters are written to our members under the guise of facilitating an investigation only for them to be subjected to needless interrogations about a long-gone consignment.
“A form ‘M’ may have multiple items listed but only one or two may be imposed at a point in time, granted that they may have access to the manifest, it may not tell the full story. Subsequent imports may include the rest. We insist that the Bureau may be over stepping their bounds in this instance.
“Electronic Bill of lading may pick any of the items from the Form ‘M’, but physical examination supercedes all other document.
“Various Customs Unit and other government agencies partake in the physical examination. Sir, we have Commissioner of police domiciled in the ports. We also have an AIG(Maritime) who may have cause to write to Customs to reposition a Container for re-examination. It is the items duly assessed and released after attestation by the relevant agencies.
“It baffles our association that after this rigorous exercise and the containers long delivered, another Police unit steps in with a query. If the ZEB wants to be part of the examination or revenue collection, they may apply to the right channel and join the physical examination. They may know better than Customs.
“Every other day, we are inundated by complaints of aggrieved freight forwarders who accuse the ZEB of being worse than the discredited SARS.”
The NAGAFF 100 Percent Team then appealed that the anomaly should be investigated in order to bring an end to it, stressing that if nothing is done about it, it would lead to withdrawal of their services and shutting down of ports in the Western Zone.
Recall that the Zonal Enquiry Bureau (ZEB) had in a letter of invitation signed by DCP Umar and dated 26th of August 2022 requested the Managing Director/Operational Manager IBRARLEO Nigeria Limited to report to the officer in-charge of Zonal Enquiry Bureau Section with GSM No 08033212139 for a fact finding exercise on a matter which they alleged was reported to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police Zone 2 Police Command headquarters, Onikan, Lagos Nigeria.
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