BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County – A Ghanaian vessel carrying an assortment of alcoholic beverages and mining equipment has been impounded at the Port of Buchanan in Grand Bassa County after it docked at an authorized pier.
The vessel which arrived at the pier at 2:00AM on Tuesday had onboard 221 cartoons of Faxe 10% and 70 cartoons of Origin and an assortment of mining machines/equipment.
Speaking to FrontPageAfrica the Commissioner General of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Mr. Thomas Doe-Nah lamented that it is due to these smuggling activities that there are currently so many illicit mining activities going on in various parts of the country.
He said the joint security was called to assist in investigating the incident to determine the actual amount in taxes evaded and other details.
He said the LRA has intelligence that similar illegal ships often smuggle goods into the country via Marshall, Sinoe, Greenville and other areas where there is little or no monitoring going on.
According to Mr. Nah, the goods were reportedly bought by Liberians who paid all the required taxes in Ghana, and hired the Ghanaian-owned vessel to smuggle them to Liberia, with the intent of evading taxes.
The seized vessel and goods are currently in the custody of the LRA, pending full investigation.
He said the LRA is making arrangements to mount cameras that can be accessed from mobile phones at various borders to help monitor activities at those borders in order to safeguard government’s revenue.
Source: FrontPage Africa
