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 were unlawfully smuggled into 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 to destroy the seized tobacco products.
According to the Sector Commander of the Customs Division of the GRA, in charge of the Northern and North East regions, Georgina Lamisi Tibanye, intelligence was gathered from British-American Tobacco, leading to the identification of a warehouse in the Upper East region.
Subsequently, a team was formed to address the situation.
“We’re dealing with illicit cigarettes which were arrested from Pulmakom in the Upper East region. We got an intel 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 transport the others 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.”
The Sector Commander also disclosed that the perpetrators escaped upon the team’s arrival.
However, she remains optimistic that ongoing investigations will yield results soon.
Regarding the economic impact, Madam Georgina Lamisi Tibanye said the tax losses incurred by GRA from the impounded tobacco products were a staggering GHC 7,951,238.39.