Emergency military rations, some intended for Hurricane Katrina victims and relief personnel, are for sale on eBay, government investigators told Congress on Monday.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said it’s illegal to sell military rations. Their investigation found that eight eBay sellers of military rations, known as Meals Ready to Eat or MREs, were online two months after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast region. Half of those investigated were members of the military.

Among those was a Tennessee State Guard who coordinated shelters in the Nashville area for hurricane relief. He purchased 50 cases of rations at a flea market in Kentucky for about $25 a case and sold them on eBay for about $50 a case.

A sergeant in the Georgia National Guard who had been sent to Lyman, Miss., for hurricane relief work also sold the rations on eBay. The Woodstock, Ga., guardsman admitted to taking 26 cases of the rations and offering them on eBay for $45 each, said Paul Anderson, managing director for the Government Accountability Office, on Tuesday.

Another major seller was identified as an Air Force retiree from Pensacola, Fla., who said he had obtained multiple cases of rations at yard sales. Another seller is a member of the Marine Corps and is stationed at the Marine Corp Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia, who took rations out of a dumpster at the Marine base.

Anderson said the Government Accountability Office has referred the cases to the Department of Defense Inspector General, which is considering further investigation and possible prosecution.

Posted: 02|15|06 at 8:55 am. Filed under: Auction News.