The Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Col. Kwadwo Damoah (Rtd), has praised highly his men who helped in the recent arrest of 42 kilogrammes of cocaine that was being smuggled into the country in a Nigerian registered vehicle.
According to him, though there has been hullabaloo about a part of the seized cocaine that has gone missing, the arresting officers must still be commended for their efforts.
He, however, said his outfit would not rest on its oars until the reported missing cocaine has been found and retrieved.
On Friday, June 5, this year, officers of the Customs Division of the GRA, together with their counterparts from the Narcotic Control Commission at the Kpoglo border post, near Aflao, stopped a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado vehicle with registration number LSR 815 FV, which had entered the country.
Upon further investigation, some substances suspected to be narcotics and $200,000 were found in the fuel compartment of the vehicle upon a search.
The driver of the vehicle fled the scene. All the items found in the vehicle were documented by the officers in the joint security operation at Aflao, and handed over to the Customs Division for safekeeping. It was latter detected that 100.10 grammes of the suspected narcotic drugs was missing. This led to accusations and counter-accusations between the GRA and Narcotic Control Commission.
But Col Damuah, who addressing customs officers in the Aflao Sector Command recently, said the issue had not die down and that they would investigate and get to the bottom of the missing drug.
He charged his officers to be more professional in carrying out their mandate. They should also be neutral and avoid indulging in partisan politics to enable them to perform more effectively during this era of the Coronavirus, as well as electioneering period of the country.
According to him, as security and revenue collectors, they ought to remain loyal to the nation building agenda and work hard to ensure a safe environment that would encourage peaceful coexistence between neighbouring countries, which would help in harnessing the socio-economic life of the people.
Col. Damoah said although the officers belong to political parties and will exercise their rights by voting for one political party or the other, their political colours shouldn’t reflect in their line of duties.
“I know all of you belong to the various political parties in the country and you would be casting your votes on December 7. We should all behave like professionals. I am appealing to you to be focused on your official mandate, remain loyal to the state, and should not, in any way, allow political differences to affect the way you go about your duties,” he charged.
Touching on revenue generation, the Commissioner said the novel COVID-19 had affected revenue generation since February 2020, a situation that had reduced the volume of economic activities, not only in Ghana alone, but across the globe.
Col. Damoah, therefore, urged the personnel to work harder to get more revenue for the country, which would enable the government to get enough money to pay salaries and carry out other relevant development projects without financial difficulties.
“If you (officers) increase the revenue base, then your salaries and allowances would also be increased, as well as the government providing more logistics to help collect more revenue for the state.”
The post AFLAO MISSING COCAINE WILL BE RETRIEVED … Col Damoah assures the nation appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS