One of the goods seized containers. INSET: The Sector Command addressing the media
THE TEMA Sector Command of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority has impounded a total of six containers carrying unclear goods.
Goods such as canned drinks, lubricants, frozen fish and mackerel loaded in 20-feet containers were en route to Burkina Faso for transit and other neighbouring countries but ended up in a warehouse at Tabora in Accra.
In all, duty charges worth GH?570,000 were avoided by the owners of consignments.
Disclosing the seizure to the media in Tema, the Tema Sector Commander of the Customs Division, Dr. Godfred Okoh Appiah, explained that the trucks, which were en route to Burkina Faso for transit and other countries, were intercepted because tax and duty charges were not paid. Transit goods do not attract any duty because the goods are not consumed in Ghana.
“In all, six trucks containing assorted drinks, frozen fish, mackerel and lubricants, which were en route to Burkina Faso for transit, including Mali and Niger, were intercepted after they were diverted to Accra by the owners in order to sell them on the Ghanaian market”, the Tema Sector Commander explained.
“There were three trucks with two having a 20-footer container each, containing assorted canned minerals and the truck with two containers, containing lubricants. In all, the duty charges amounted to GH?570, 000 but because it is transit goods, we decided to let them go but they ended up in Ghana,” he explained further.
He added that the case was under investigation but the drivers of the three trucks and the owners of the goods had been arrested and handed over to the police for prosecution. The commander indicated that the clearing agent bolted and he is currently at large.
This is the third seizure of transit goods since the beginning of the second quarter of the year 2018. The exact content and quantity of the items will be examined in due course.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema