Customs seizes 100 uncustomed vehicles in Sekondi/Takoradi
The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the Western Region has impounded 100 uncustomed vehicles in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis.
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The importers were said to have used fake number plates to smuggle the vehicles through the country’s entry points where there were no GCNet systems.
When the Daily Graphic visited the premises of the Customs Division near the Takoradi Harbour, the 100 vehicles which had been impounded were parked at the Customs car park.
According to officials, most of the vehicles were over-aged and brought into the country from neighbouring countries such as Togo and Benin for commercial and private use.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the sector commander, Mr Fredrick Gavor, said the clampdown became necessary because Customs identified a number of vehicles which did not go through the GCNet System.
He said there were other vehicles such as heavy duty trucks which were yet to be impounded.
Transit vehicles
Asked how those vehicles managed to get into the country without being detected by Customs at the entry points, Mr Gavor said most of them entered the country as transit vehicles.
He explained that first, the vehicles were driven from Benin and Togo to a place along the Togo and Ghana border known as “No Man’s Land,” where they were given fake number plates.
“Other importers hide under the ECOWAS protocol, which allows vehicles to enter member countries and stay for 90 days, using fake ECOWAS brown cards and number plates,” he said.
He added that those vehicles were then driven to a location where fake officers (goro-boys) at the offices of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) provided fake documents to cover them.
Fake agents
Mr Gavor also said the owners and fake agents at the DVLA usually used the number plates of vehicles such as tractors, forklifts, trucks and other earth-moving machines which were no longer on the road, to evade the payment of duties to the state.
He said most of the vehicles were used for taxis and later sold to unsuspecting members of the general public.
The commander cautioned the public to cross-check documents on the vehicles they wanted to buy with the Customs Division before any payment should be effected.
When contacted, the Western Regional Director of DVLA, Mr Godson Wormegah, said all the impounded vehicles bore fake number plates.
“I can confirm that it is only the DVLA that issues licences to vehicles. However, some had brought in these machines and were cutting the fake plates for sale to people,” he said.
The only way to curb the incident, he said, was for Customs and DVLA, to collaborate very closely.
By Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu/Daily Graphic/Ghana