Measures put in place by the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) to check diversion of cargo at the Tema Port has pas paid off as Ghana realised a total one million cedis between April and December 2018
The Tema Sector Commander of the CEPS, Dr. Okoh Appiah explained that the special taskforce established in April was mandated to inspect goods loaded from bonded warehouses before re-export.
He said the taskforce detected that some of the goods which were entered for re-export to destinations like Togo ended up on markets in Accra, Koforidua and Kumasi.
“We have in place measures to control transit and re-export in order to minimize the smuggling, and these measures include the use of electronic tracking devices and insurance bonds,” he told 3FM.
“Where we have suspicion that the goods have been diverted, we fall on the insurance companies who serve as guarantors for the transaction to be undertaken in order to recover the custom duty liability,” Dr. Appiah added.
CEPS, he said, has what is termed custom to custom partnership with neighboring countries which helps in detecting some of these diversions.
Dr. Appiah is therefore cautioning importers to desist from using the services of agents who promise to help them avoid duties at the port.
“Whoever approaches you or convinces you that they will be able to make you pay less than how much you usually pay on your consignment, especially on commercial goods, will be resulting to diversion tactics and suspends regimes,” he warned.
He reminded importers who avoid port duties that they risk losing their goods or paying a 300 per cent penalty.
By 3news.com| Ghana
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