CUSTOMS and Excise say they are still waiting on the Ministry of Health and the Attorney General’s office for advice on what to do with a consignment of imported tobacco seized in 2012.
Comptroller of Customs Nathan Kama confirmed the products are still lying in the Queens warehouse at Point Cruz.
Mr Kama said they have not heard anything from the ministry therefore can’t do anything at this stage.
He said they won’t do anything until the Ministry of Health makes a decision on the tobacco products.
“Until today we have not received any directives from the ministry of health. So the products are still here,” the Customs boss said.
He added the products have been there for more than a year now and may no longer be safe for human consumption, adding they may have already been damaged an in poor quality.
Asked if anyone is coming around to try and take out the tobacco products, Mr Kama said those who owned the products came but “we cannot allow these products to them since they are illegally imported”.
Mr Kama said the two possible options to take could be to destroy the products or to send them back to where they came from at the expense of the importer.
It was reported that a total of 1145 boxes of illegal tobacco products were held by Customs from two separate importers.
Documents sighted by this paper revealed that 900 of those boxes belongs to Asian Jerry Hung Sun and 245 boxes belongs to Oceanic Oasis Co. Limited, a foreign owned company incorporated in the country on the 20 September 2012.
These tobacco products should earn the government $21 million in taxes if sold.
By DANIEL NAMOSUAIA
