The General Directorate of Passports and Immigration, operating under the Sudan Police Headquarters, has announced the commencement of urgent administrative procedures to investigate allegations that passports belonging to deceased individuals were used to process transactions involving customs exemptions.
The issue was first brought to light in an exclusive report published by the Almohagig news website, which included statements by the Director of Customs at Argeen Crossing, Brigadier of Police Al-Hassan Suleiman Ahmed Nasr Al-Din, in an investigation into conditions at the crossing. The report was subsequently circulated by other media outlets and social media platforms.
In an official statement published on its Facebook page on Friday, the Directorate said it had treated the allegations raised in the media and on social media platforms with the utmost seriousness and had immediately ordered the formation of a specialised technical and legal committee to verify the information.
According to the statement, the committee will review records and entries relating to transactions covered by customs exemptions during the previous period and cross-check them against the Civil Registry database and official death records. It will also examine administrative procedures and submitted documentation to determine whether there have been cases of exploitation or unlawful manipulation of official documents.
The Directorate stressed that it would not tolerate any violations or administrative loopholes if proven to have occurred. It pledged to take decisive legal and administrative action against any individual or entity found to have been involved in compromising the security of the state’s official identification documents. It also committed to informing the public of the investigation’s findings with complete transparency.
The Director of Customs at Argeen Crossing had previously told Almohagig that customs authorities had received passports belonging to deceased individuals, which were allegedly used to facilitate the passage of commercial goods under the cover of exemptions granted for the personal belongings of voluntary returnees.
He described the matter as “very extensive, with numerous examples.”
The director also confirmed that customs exemptions for the furniture and electrical appliances of returning Sudanese citizens had been abolished, suggesting that fraudulent practices may have been behind the decision.
The Almohgig investigation into Argeen Crossing also examined complaints by transport company owners and truck drivers about congestion lasting several weeks, slow procedures, and fires that destroyed entire shipments of returnees’ personal belongings, alongside the customs authorities’ responses to these complaints.
