CEPS intercepts transit goods

Page 12: Daily Graphic, September 19, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) has intercepted six vehicles which were discharging transit goods bound for Burkina Faso and Niger in Kumasi and Accra respectively.
The estimated value of the duty to have been paid on the transit goods is almost GH¢100,000.
Five of the trucks were impounded in Kumasi while discharging 13,536 cartons of tomato paste destined for Burkina Faso.
Six persons, mostly the drivers, have been granted bail, while the trucks, with registration numbers AS 4111 U, WR 371 V, CR 371 P, AS 4954 W and AS 3392 U, are being held by the Kumasi police.
One person, identified only as Adams and said to be the principal character in the diversion attempt, is being sought after by the CEPS.
The sixth truck carrying the 140-footer container of 2,700 cartons of frozen chicken and turkey destined for Niger was intercepted by personnel of CEPS and other security agencies at Nungua.
Three persons, Kofi Sarpong, Mary Agoe, owner of Venees Cold Store at Nungua and the driver of the truck, Kofi Arhin, have been granted police enquiry bail.
Two other persons, identified only as Isaac and John, are being sought after by CEPS.
The truck, with registration number GT 7483 C, has also been impounded.
The Assistant Commissioner in charge of Narcotics/Investigations at CEPS, Alhaji Y. A. Ibrahim, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that besides the duty that would be paid, the perpetrators would also pay penalties, while the drivers would also pay penalties for using their vehicles to divert the goods.
He explained that duty was not paid on transit goods at the ports in Ghana.
He said to ensure that the goods were not discharged in Ghana, tracking devices were installed in the trucks carrying the goods for monitoring purposes by CEPS.
Alhaji Ibrahim said under CEPS and the transit arrangements, the trucks were given a 14-day period to leave the shores of Ghana after leaving the ports.
He said if any truck was unable to leave within that period, CEPS officials were able to tell whether it was either through a fault or an accident and where nothing was established, investigations were conducted to find out what the problem could be.
According to him, although some persons tried to detach the trailers carrying the containers and put them on different vehicles, CEPS were able to locate such persons and to deal with them.
He said four new four-by-four vehicles had been released to the CEPS transit monitoring and surveillance team to trail all transit goods.
He, therefore, warned persons involved in such businesses to desist from them since they would be caught.