The enforcement unit of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) on Tuesday seized a Toyota Mark II car brought illegally into the country and sources said that the vehicle had been impounded before in Berbice but a senior official of the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) released the vehicle.
This newspaper was told that acting on intelligence received, an enforcement team was sent to Berbice, where the Mark II was seized from a resident.
Investigations revealed that it was illegally brought into the country.
Attempts had been made to change the identification numbers.
The vehicle was brought to the city, where it is currently impounded. A GRA source told this newspaper that the duty to bring the vehicle into the country would have been about $2.2M.
But according to a source with knowledge of the matter, the very car had been seized in Berbice before. This newspaper was told that on that occasion, a BASS officer detained the car on a Friday and the vehicle was left in the compound. However, according to the sources, upon the officer’s return to work the following Monday, the car had vanished. This newspaper was told that when questions were asked, a senior BASS official said that everything was “alright” and he had released the car. Concerns were raised about the “questionable circumstances” under which the vehicle was released then.
This newspaper was told that if the person from whom the car was seized wanted it back, he would have to pay the duty plus a fine which would amount to about three times the duty of the vehicle.
