By Naa Dzagbley Ago
The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, GRA, has intercepted 119 bags filled with compressed, a dried substance suspected to be Indian hemp at Dabala, in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region. The contraband was being transported to an unknown location on a Ford Transit Van and an International truck that broke down along the way.
According to the GRA, the sacks of suspected Indian Hemp were allegedly moved from the broken vehicle to a thatched house to hide it from the security agencies in the area. The slabs of the suspected narcotic substances were wrapped with brown tape and rubber and concealed in 100 kilograms sacks which had been sworn at the edges.
The exact quantities and weights of each sack or slabs were yet to be established.
The van had since been impounded, and its driver arrested.
Interacting with some journalists before handing over the bags to the Narcotics Control Commission, the Acting Commissioner of the Customs Division of the GRA, Alhaji Iddrisu Iddisah Seidu said the arrest was made by the Eastern Corridor Monitoring Task Force of the Division which responds to issues concerning smuggling and cross border crimes along Ghana’s borders with Togo.
He said ”based on intelligence, the team intercepted the van carrying 26 sacks of dried leaves suspected to be Indian Hemp at Wute near Akatchi in the Volta Region”.
The driver was arrested after he was given a hot chase and his vehicle developed a fault after bumping into a ramp on the road.
During interrogations as part of preliminary investigations, it was established that there was a bigger truck also carrying some of the contraband goods which had broken at Avadre, near Ziope. He said when the team got to the point where the bigger truck had broken down, the occupants on the van allegedly abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene.
It was discovered that the sacks had been moved to a house nearby to conceal the items from the security agencies.
The team retrieved the sacks and transferred them to a State warehouse.
Mr. Siedu said the suspect had since been handed over to the Police.
Other suspects are however on the run, and Police are on the man-hunt.
Mr. Seidu urged owners to monitor what their vehicles are hauling, because some of the drivers engage in nefarious activities, on the blind side of truck owners.
Head of the Eastern Corridor Monitoring Task Force, Revenue Officer, Abdullah Dari, said “the people behind such activities are criminals and national economic saboteurs as they deprive the nation of the revenue needed for development projects” and they must be fished out.
