Customs intercepts smuggled pieces of cloth

THE Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has intercepted 1,450 pieces of cloth believed to have been smuggled into the country from China through Togo.

The cloths, concealed under loads of sachet water, were intercepted by preventive officers of the Customs Division at Community 25 in Tema on the Tema-Aflao highway.

The driver of a Kia truck, with registration number GW 2155-09, Sampson Afawugbo, who drove the vehicle from Vume, near Sogakope in the Volta Region, is being held to assist officials in their investigations.

The alleged smuggling was intended to avoid the payment of some GH¢7,250 import tax to the state.

The driver, an employee of Joankoff Limited in Kasoa in the Central Region, told the Daily Graphic that he had been lured into carting the goods by four unidentified men at Vume when he was on his way from Aflao, where he had earlier delivered peanut pastries to customers.

The Deputy Commissioner in charge of Preventive of the Customs Division, Mr Ernest Ackwerh, said the interception followed a tip-off.

He told the Daily Graphic that Afawugbo, who was conveying the items to one Esinam Veli, believed to be the owner, in an attempt to outwit security men on duty at the Tsopoli Police Post, diverted his course at the Sege Junction through the deteriorated Old Ningo road to Prampram, all in the Dangme West District of the Greater Accra Region.

According to him, following new techniques devised by smugglers, officials of the Customs Division had put in place a stringent monitoring system to ensure that every pesewa due the state was recouped.

“Traders have now resorted to concealing smuggled goods in the lining compartments of long-distance buses to evade tax,” Mr Ackwerh said.

He indicated that Afawugbo, who became aware of the presence of preventive officers at New Ningo, sped off but he was arrested at  Prampram.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Tue Feb 14, 2012