Diverted goods intercepted, Monday December 20, 2010, Spread
THREE thousand second-hand gas cylinders initially registered at the Tema Port as transit goods to Burkina Faso were impounded by the Special Operations Unit (SOU) of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) yesterday.
The goods were impounded when a surveillance team of the unit reported that the trucks had diverted their course and were unloading the goods at Kasoa-Amanfrom.
Three trucks, with registration numbers AS 9989 P, GT 6057 C and GT 3984 B, carrying the cylinders, which are banned in Ghana, have also been impounded.
The goods, which had been at the Tema Port for two weeks, had attracted the attention of the SOU since transit goods spend less time at the port.
Narrating events leading to the confiscation of the goods to the Daily Graphic, the Co-ordinator of the SOU, Mr Abudu Nelson, said the unit received a tip-off from an informant at the port that some goods had been loaded onto some trucks deep in the night.
He said the SOU then placed its surveillance team on the alert to follow the three trucks when they departed the Tema Port at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday.
“As soon as the trucks reached the Tema Motorway an hour later, the surveillance team reported that the drivers had yanked off the tracking devices meant to monitor their movement until they reached their destination in Burkina Faso,” he stated.
He said the team then called for back-up and the trucks were followed until Kasoa where they diverted about four kilometres into Amanfrom where the contents of one of the vehicles were unloaded into an uncompleted building.
Mr Nelson said when the drivers of the trucks, Abdul Razak Hussein, Abubakr Sadique and Hamza, were questioned, they said they had carried cocoa from Kumasi to Tema and had been contracted to carry the cylinders to Burkina Faso by an agent, who is now at large.
According to the drivers, when they reached the Tema Motorway, the agent told them the goods were no longer heading to Burkina Faso but would be unloaded at Kasoa.
Mr Nelson said even though the unit had made some arrest in the past, “this is the biggest catch we have ever made.”
He appealed to the management of CEPS to deal ruthlessly with the culprits to serve as a deterrent to others who were engaged in such activities which cost the country a lot in revenue.
Some time last year the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, set up the SOU to combat the increasing rate of revenue leakage as a result of malfeasance at CEPS, including that involving transit goods, running into millions of cedis annually.
Since then, there have been many arrests of smugglers, smuggled goods, as well as transit goods, which have saved the nation a lot of money which, otherwise, would have gone into private pockets.
The goods were impounded when a surveillance team of the unit reported that the trucks had diverted their course and were unloading the goods at Kasoa-Amanfrom.
Three trucks, with registration numbers AS 9989 P, GT 6057 C and GT 3984 B, carrying the cylinders, which are banned in Ghana, have also been impounded.
The goods, which had been at the Tema Port for two weeks, had attracted the attention of the SOU since transit goods spend less time at the port.
Narrating events leading to the confiscation of the goods to the Daily Graphic, the Co-ordinator of the SOU, Mr Abudu Nelson, said the unit received a tip-off from an informant at the port that some goods had been loaded onto some trucks deep in the night.
He said the SOU then placed its surveillance team on the alert to follow the three trucks when they departed the Tema Port at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday.
“As soon as the trucks reached the Tema Motorway an hour later, the surveillance team reported that the drivers had yanked off the tracking devices meant to monitor their movement until they reached their destination in Burkina Faso,” he stated.
He said the team then called for back-up and the trucks were followed until Kasoa where they diverted about four kilometres into Amanfrom where the contents of one of the vehicles were unloaded into an uncompleted building.
Mr Nelson said when the drivers of the trucks, Abdul Razak Hussein, Abubakr Sadique and Hamza, were questioned, they said they had carried cocoa from Kumasi to Tema and had been contracted to carry the cylinders to Burkina Faso by an agent, who is now at large.
According to the drivers, when they reached the Tema Motorway, the agent told them the goods were no longer heading to Burkina Faso but would be unloaded at Kasoa.
Mr Nelson said even though the unit had made some arrest in the past, “this is the biggest catch we have ever made.”
He appealed to the management of CEPS to deal ruthlessly with the culprits to serve as a deterrent to others who were engaged in such activities which cost the country a lot in revenue.
Some time last year the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, set up the SOU to combat the increasing rate of revenue leakage as a result of malfeasance at CEPS, including that involving transit goods, running into millions of cedis annually.
Since then, there have been many arrests of smugglers, smuggled goods, as well as transit goods, which have saved the nation a lot of money which, otherwise, would have gone into private pockets.
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