Illegal Trade: 13 Tonnes Of Goods Set Ablaze

The goods worth FCFA108 million were destroyed by customs officials in Tiko.

The Divisional Officer for Tiko Sub-Division, Cletus Anuafor Asongwe, has supervised the destruction of impounded illegal goods in Tiko. The goods impounded by customs authorities included 766 cartons of fake medicines, 624 packs of non-biodegradable plastic bags, and 158 cartons of cigarettes.
The illegal goods were put to flames in the outskirt of the town of Tiko (waste site) on March 21.

Officials of the Ministries of Environment and Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, Forestry and Wildlife, Public Health, the Customs Department among others, witnessed the destruction. However, the non-biodegradable plastics were not put to flames as a measure to protect the environment.

They were manually destroyed and subsequently handed to local plastic factories to recycle and produce acceptable plastics above 60 microns. 

Conducting the burning of the fake goods, Anuafor Asongwe explained the exercise was part of the intensive fight against illicit trade and customs fraud. He insisted that no such dangerous goods would pass through Tiko unnoticed.

According to the Customs Chief of Bureau for Tiko, Fako Division, Ferdinand Fourou Kerbai, the ill...