The Upper West Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service, GIS, has seized two trucks containing 1,900 bags of NPK fertilizers that were being carted to neighbouring Burkina Faso.
The fertilizers were meant for farmers under government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme.
Narrating the incident to GBC’s Radio Ghana, the Hamile Sector Commander of the GIS, Chief Superintendent, Felix Agyeman Bosompem, said his team rushed to Fielmuo upon a tip-off that some individuals were trying to smuggle fertilizers through an unapproved route in the Sissala West area.
The trucks along with the drivers have been handed over to the Upper West Regional Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, GRA, under the directives of the Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih.
The Upper West Region has since the inception of the Planting for Food and Jobs program gained notoriety for the smuggling of subsidized fertilizers meant for farmers under the initiative.
The smugglers regularly use unapproved routes along towns in the Sissala East and Sissala West areas.
The Regional Security Council, REGSEC, therefore beefed up joint Police-Military-Immigration taskforce to patrol such unapproved routes. The Hamile Sector Commander of the GIS, Chief Superintendent Felix Agyeman Bosompem recounted that his men encountered more than 10 men at the scene of the arrest.
He explained that since they were not adequately armed, they alerted the nearest military team whilst engaging the drivers of the vehicles in order to buy time for the reinforcement to arrive.
Sector Commander Agyeman Bosompem said the Service would further intensify patrols and help government to end fertilizer smuggling through the Upper West Region.
