THE CUSTOMS Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Kumasi Collection, has impounded an articulator truck laden with car spare parts which were heading to the market without the appropriate taxes being paid to the state.
The driver of the truck said to be coming from Accra did not use the main Accra-Kumasi road for obvious reasons. The driver, instead, used a different route to escape arrest by Customs officials.
But the Customs personnel in the Ashanti Region, who have intensified their patrol operations in the region for the past six months, acting upon intelligence, managed to impound the goods at Atonsu, a suburb of Kumasi, on Friday during a special operation at dawn.
NDC Anger
DAILY GUIDE’s credible sources informed the paper about the arrest shortly after the Customs personnel intercepted the articulator truck at Atonsu.
The paper’s checks later indicated that the impounding of the vehicle angered some NDC gurus in the region.
An NDC capo, said to be a top security capo, intervened for the goods to be released to its owner but the Customs officials refused.
The car spare parts are currently being offloaded from the impounded truck by Customs officials for examination, which will eventually lead to punitive sanctions against the offender.
Customs
When contacted, Assistant Commissioner Paul Kwesi Ahiakpor, Sector Commander, Kumasi Collection of the Customs Division, confirmed that indeed a truck full of car spare parts had been impounded.
He expressed concern over the increase in the smuggling of goods into the system, disclosing that eight different trucks laden with un-costumed goods were also arrested in the city by his outfit from Monday to Tuesday.
Assistant Commissioner Ahiakpor said he was worried over the development since smuggling of goods into the country posed serious security threats to the country and its people, especially in this election year.
Assist. Commissioner Ahiakpor said his outfit had intensified its patrol duties to clampdown on the rise in smuggling of un-costumed goods, saying, “We are not looking for revenue alone but also to check the security threat that the country faces.”
He disclosed that the impounded car spare parts were being examined at the Customs premises at Amakom in Kumasi, to be followed by valuation and assessment of duty for the offender to pay all taxes required to the state.
Assist. Commissioner Ahiakpor entreated the public to continue to offer valuable information to Customs officials so that un-costumed goods would not find their way onto the market for the country to lose valuable money.
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