3 containers of fake electrical cables seized by Customs Division

The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the Tema Port has seized three 40-footer containers of fake electrical cables that do not meet safety requirements.

T- Digital Company Limited, located at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region, imported the three container loads of the fake cables, labeled by port inspection chemists as “dangerous and unacceptable”.

The cables were imported from a Chinese manufacturing company, Haiyan Zhonghai Wire, and Cable Company Limited, in Shiquan Town, Haiy Jiaxing in China.

According to the Commissioner of the Customs Division of the GRA, Isaac Crentsil, the seized items would be deposited at the State Warehouse pending destruction.

In an interview last Tuesday, Mr. Crentsil said: “The electrical cables in all the three containers were marked unsafe by the chemist during an inspection and the consignment was recommended to be seized.”

“We will destroy them because when they are asked to be shipped back, the importers find ways to bring them into the market through unapproved routes,” he added.

He warned that Customs would deal with importers who attempted to cheat the system, saying aside from destroying the goods, “the appropriate sanctions will be meted out to the importer”.

The interception of the containers came in the wake of reports of fake cables flooding the market.

A nationwide investigation revealed that more than 70 percent of all imported electrical cables on the market were substandard, and could cause fires.

Meanwhile, a source at the Tema Port revealed that although fake cables were imported into the country regularly, Monday’s seizure after the paper’s report was the first he had witnessed at the Tema Port.

“What is strange is that most of these cables go through the system or are brought in through unapproved routes because this is the first time I have seen cables seized here and I have been here for some years. Even these goods would have gone through if the chemist had not been vigilant,” the source said.

Credit: Daily Graphic

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