.jpg "Some of the seized goods being burnt. Picture: MARY ANANE")
Customs destroys smuggled goods
The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) last Wednesday destroyed large quantities of goods seized from smugglers.
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The goods, worth thousands of Ghana cedis, were destroyed at a dumpsite at Klefe in the Volta Region.
They included pharmaceutical products, aphrodisiacs, expired food items, prohibited substandard goods and more than 1,600 compressed parcels of Indian hemp.
Most of the goods were retrieved after the smugglers abandoned them for fear of arrest.
The destruction of the items, which had been in the custody of the division for a long time, was witnessed by officials of other agencies such as the Police Service, the Ghana National Fire Service, the Bureau of National Investigations, the Food and Drugs Authority, as well as the Ghana Standards Authority.
Items destroyed
Addressing the media in Ho, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Ho Sector, Mr Frank Cudjoe Ashong, said the pharmaceutical products were outright seizures from importers who had violated the law on importing the products through the border.
He explained that pharmaceutical products were supposed to be imported into the country through the sea ports or the airport and so anyone who imported these products over land had violated the law, which required an outright seizure.
Mr Ashong said with “the new Customs Law, 2015, Act 891, officials are required to intercept such goods, confiscate the vehicle, arrest conveyor and the owner of consignment”.
He, therefore, warned drivers to examine parcels or items before they lift them to their destinations.
Indian hemp
He also noted that the cultivation and usage of Indian hemp in the Volta Region had gone up.
“This year we have intercepted over 500 compressed parcels of Indian hemp and the bulk interception was done at the Asikuma Checkpoint,” he disclosed.
He said the Customs Division called for collaboration between the citizenry and the division to arrest people who violated the law because their activities were impacting negatively on the resources of the country.
That, he explained, was because unscrupulous importers used unapproved routes to evade the necessary taxes and also flood the markets with unwholesome products.