Nine public officers have been arrested after the interception of a container loaded with undeclared Tramadol at the Tema Port.
The suspects include five officers of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), one officer from the Narcotics Control Commission, one Port Security officer, one Energy Commission officer and one Standards Authority officer.
They have been granted Police enquiry bail as investigations continue.
The arrests follow the seizure of 299 cartons containing 146,932,000 tablets of Tramadol Hydrochloride at 250mg and 225mg, weighing about 34,847.2 kilogrammes.
In a press statement released on Tuesday, March 3, the Ghana Revenue Authority said the seizure was triggered by intelligence gathered by the Preventive Unit of its Customs Division.
“The arrests follow the seizure by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) of a container loaded with 299 cartons containing 146,932,000 tablets (250mg and 225mg) of undeclared Tramadol Hydrochloride, equivalent to 34,847.2 kilogrammes,” the statement said in part.
According to the GRA, the container, numbered TGHU6228715 and cleared under Bill of Entry 40226151187, was detained on February 26 and moved to a Customs-controlled area in Tema for further checks.
The shipment originated from the United Arab Emirates and had been declared as containing household items such as water kettles, kitchen blenders, pressing irons, energy-saving bulbs and polypropylene materials.
However, a joint re-examination by Customs officers and the Central Revenue Monitoring Team on Sunday, March 1, revealed otherwise.
“In addition to some of the declared items, officers discovered large quantities of concealed and undeclared Tramadol tablets hidden within the container,” the statement added.
The importer and declarant have since been handed over to the Police to assist with investigations while seized drugs remain under Customs control.
