GRA lunches investigations into viral video of alleged Custom officers brutalizing civilian

The Ghana Revenue Authority has condemned the acts of brutality meted out to a civilian by suspected officers of the Customs Division of the GRA.

GRA, in a statement copied to GhanaWeb, said it was appalled by the actions of the alleged officers, noting that such brutality is not within the tenets of the profession.

The GRA says an investigation has been instituted into the issue to identify the officers behind the assault on the unarmed civilian and unearth the merits of the case.

It added that whiles internal disciplinary measures have been instituted, the case has also been referred to the Ghana Police Service to investigate and bring the culprits to book.

“Management of the GRA has perused the video recording and would like to put this information out: i. Investigations have commenced into the alleged incident. ii. The incident has also been reported to the Police Service and the Authority is collaborating with the Police to deal with the situation. iii. The appropriate sanctions would be meted out to the persons found culpable of the assault.

“We however wish to condemn this unfortunate situation and to use this opportunity to entreat the general public to report acts or incidents of such nature to the Authority for quick redress,” parts of the statement issued on Friday, December 23, 2022 read.

A viral video sighted by GhanaWeb showed the officers who got down from a white pickup truck asking people to sit on the floor. From this group, they picked out one man and started beating him up.

The man, who was narrating the incident in the video which appeared to be from a CCTV camera, claimed that it happened at Paradise a resort near Linda Dor restaurant at Nsutam in the Eastern Region.

He alleged that the customs officers captured in the video, numbering about 5, are from the Nsutam office of customs.

The narrator, who identified himself as Kwaku Adu, said that the officers trooped to Paradise after a man reported to them that he had been robbed by someone who was driving a black vehicle.

Read the full statement from the GRA below