Section 145: Power to examine, mark, seal and take account of goods

(1)
Without prejudice to any other power conferred by this Act, an officer may examine, mark, seal and take account of any goods -
(a) which are imported; or
(b)
which are in or at a warehouse, Government warehouse, customs area or examination station; or
(c) which have been loaded into any ship or aircraft at any place in Nigeria; or
(d) which are entered for exportation or for use as stores; or
(e)
which are brought to any place in Nigeria for exportation or for loading for exportation or as stores; or
(f)
in the case of which any claim for drawback, remission or repayment of duty is made, and may for that purpose require any container to be opened or unpacked.
(2)
Any examination of the goods by an officer under this Act shall be made at such place as the Board appoints for the purpose.
(3)
In the case of such goods as the Board may direct, and subject to such conditions as it sees fit to impose, an officer may permit goods to be bulked, sorted, lotted, packed or repacked before account is taken thereof.
(4)
Any opening, unpacking, weighing, measuring, repacking, bulking, sorting, lotting, marking, numbering, loading, unloading, carrying, or landing of goods or their containers for the purpose of, or incidental to, the examination by an officer, removal or warehousing thereof shall be done, and any facilities or assistance required for any such examination shall be provided, by or at the expense of the proprietor of the goods.
(5)
If any goods which an officer has power under this Act to examine are without the authority of the proper officer removed from the place appointed under this section for their examination before they have been examined, or any mark or seal placed upon any goods by an officer is, without the authority of the proper officer, altered or broken, those goods shall be forfeited, and any person who so removed them or so altered or broke such mark or seal, if he did so with intent to defraud the Government of any duty chargeable thereon or to evade any prohibition with respect to the importation, exportation or carnage coastwise thereof, shall be liable to a fine of six times the value of the goods or four hundred naira, whichever is the greater, or to imprisonment for two years, or to both.