A customs officer, Osei Tutu Agyemang, has been interdicted for stealing two forty-foot containers, MRKU2742363 and MRKU4114371, from Tema Port. The theft was detected by national security operatives in the Port.
The Herald is meanwhile informed that President John Mahama has set up a special taskforce called the Special Operations Unit to report to him directly in his effort to block the ‘leaky financials’ at the port.
Additional claims are that some top officers within the state security apparatus are hijacking luxurious cars from the port under the cloak of them being stolen vehicles from abroad. These cars are later sadly traced to family members, girlfriends some of whom are having the difficulties registering the cars at the Driver Vehicle and License Authority (DVLA).
In the case of the customs officer, Osei Tutu Agyemang, he was approached by an importer, EMEGGA Limited, to assist him get a clearing agent to clear his goods described in the manifest only as tables. The importer gave GHC28,500 (280,500,000 old cedi) to the customs officer for the clearance of the goods.
But the customs officer pocketed the money and faked transfer of the containers from one terminal to another, and in the process stole the un-paid and un-examined containers which were manifested only as table but could contain other dangerous items.
Osei Tutu Agyemang was busted on January 15, this year. He has been serving as customs officer for the past 18 years.
The theft could have gone unnoticed but for the vigilance of the National Security officers in Tema Port.
Meanwhile, the custom officer is on interdiction pending custom investigations and appropriate action.
In a related incident, a container number MNBU3359723 which was being transferred from Tema Container Terminal (TCT) for scanning also got diverted into town and never went through the scan examination even though it should have been escorted by a custom officer between the terminal and the scan.
It was later detected that even the truck that carried the diverted container also had fake vehicle registration numbers but was allowed to load in the port. It had GR9695-K and GT 894-J.
The country could be sitting on a time bomb if these thefts of un-examined containers are not seriously checked.
Not long ago, three containers containing scrap mysteriously went missing, when found finally they were without their contents. Up to now the culprit responsible for the theft of the scrap has not been apprehended.
Source: GhanaWeb
