OFFICIALS OF CUSTOMS INTERCEPTED 664 INDIAN HEMP (Front Page)

24/10/2008
Story: Albert K. Salia & Mary Mensah
OFFICIALS of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) on Thursday evening intercepted 664 kilogrammes of compressed Indian hemp and hashish which had been parcelled for export to the United Kingdom.
The 240 parcels were made up of 192 slabs of compressed cannabis, 40 plastic bowls of hashish and eight cylindrically shaped containers of hashish.
As of the time of filing this report, CEPS officials had made no arrest, as the vehicle which had sent the items was said to have sped off, while the clearing agent, identified as Kennedy Biney, was also let off the hook.
The Chief Collector in charge of Investigations and Narcotics of CEPS, Nana Agyin Buadu, told journalists that not much information had been gathered so far on the exporter.
He explained that the agent had not even started processing the goods for export when it was detected that they were drugs.
The substances had been well packaged and concealed under boxes covered with cocoyam, plantain and Fante kenkey.
According to the chief collector, the vehicle which sent the goods sped off when the driver sensed that CEPS officials inspecting the goods had become suspicious of the contents of the boxes.
Nana Buadu said CEPS dealt with clearing agents and not exporters per se and indicated that it was only when an agent had presented documents for processing that CEPS would know the exporter of an item and the consignee.
Responding to questions, he said the interception was normal, and so was the mode of concealment.
He, however, said it had been a while since such a large quantity of drugs was intercepted at the airport.