Port police, NAGAFF poise for showdown over extortion

NATIONAL Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has warned law

enforcement agents in the port not to over task their patience by continuing to extort freight forwarders during cargo examination at the port.

  The association has equally called on the port police commissioner; Hilda Ibifuro Harrison to call her officers to order, to stop interfering in cargo examination process inside the port.

  Deputy National President of NAGAFF, Mr. Ugochukwu Nnadi who gave the warning in a chat with our correspondent alleged that there are five different units of police currently partaking in physical examination of cargoes and they demand not less than N5000 bribe on every container.

  Nnadi noted that even though other regulatory agencies have since been sent out of the port, the police have been adamant and have found their way back into the port system.

  The various police units involved in the bribe taking according to him include: the Commissioner's Monitoring Team, the regular police, Surveillance unit, Area Commander, and Bomb Squad.

  "There are five different units of police that will come for examination, you have to give all of them at least N1000 on each container, the police alone collect N5000 on each container you drop and this money goes into individual pockets", he lamented.

  The NAGAFF chieftain observed that prior to this time, the police were not involved in examination, they were only meant to provide security inside the port during examination of cargoes.

  He however expressed dismay that, "all of a sudden they started with the bomb squad, ‎when they come to your container you must give them at least N1000 that is if they can walk into the container”

   "But if your container is loaded and they cannot walk into it, you will start bargaining‎, they will tell you that it is either you offload all the cargo for them to ascertain there is no bomb in it, or you pay N10,000".

  Calling on the commissioner of police, Ibifuro Harrison, Nnadi stated that "the message we are sending to the commissioner is that we all know the right thing, but we don't do it, let her call her men to order”