Millions of seized tobacco products destroyed in Tamale

The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has destroyed seized tobacco products from Pulmakom and Tamale in the Upper East and Northern Regions, respectively.

The tobacco products were impounded after they illegally entered the country, evading taxes to the detriment of national revenue.

In a coordinated effort with the military command and other security agencies, the Customs Division of the GRA convened in Tamale for the destruction of the seized tobacco products.

Dozens of boxes of tobacco, initially stored in a warehouse in Pulmakom, Upper East Region, were confiscated due to tax evasion charges.

Sector Commander of the Customs Division of the GRA, in charge of the Northern and North East Regions, Georgina Lamisi Tibanye, revealed in an interview with Citi News that intelligence was gathered from British-American Tobacco on September 5th, 2023, leading to the identification of a warehouse in the Upper East Region. Subsequently, a team was formed to address the situation.

She outlined some challenges encountered in transporting the seized tobacco products to their warehouse for further action.

Additionally, due to unsafe conditions on the ground and the risk of potential attacks, more tobacco products remain in the warehouse awaiting further action.

“We’re dealing with illicit cigarettes which were arrested from Pulmakom in the Upper East Region. We got an intel message on September 5, 2023. There was a warehouse where illicit cigarettes were stored. Three teams drawn from our headquarters-Accra, Tema collection, Ho and Tamale. We had earlier sent two men on a mission who gave us the location.

“This exercise was carried out in collaboration with British-American Tobacco, they gave us the intel. We had to engage the military to assist us because of the curfew. The security situation was not favourable, so we had to manage to get what we could get and lock the rest at the warehouse and transported to Tamale. In all, we had 60. 9 million sticks of illicit cigarettes.

“Tamale collection on their own also arrested 162 boxes of cigarettes. Before the Pulmakom operation, there was a few that we got together with drugs that are prohibited and some pornographic items which are also going to be destroyed.”

Regarding the perpetrators, the Sector Commander disclosed that they escaped upon the team’s arrival. However, she remains optimistic that ongoing investigations will yield results soon.

She emphasised the difficulty in making arrests in such cases due to the carriers’ negligence regarding the transported products.

Discussing the economic impact, Madam Georgina Lamisi Tibanye disclosed a staggering GHC 7,951,238.39 as the tax losses incurred by GRA from the impounded tobacco products.

She also expressed concern over the billions of cedis lost nationally due to tax evasion, underscoring the detrimental effects on the country’s finances.

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