Large shipments of alcohol and cigarettes believed smuggled from Guyana were seized in Nickerie, Suriname supermarkets over the weekend.
According to today’s edition of the Surinamese newspaper, De Ware Tijd “Great shipments of alcohol and cigarettes from Guyana on which no import taxes have been paid were confiscated in several supermarkets in Nickerie by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (HI), the BOG, police, Customs, soldiers and the local administration.
“District Commissioner Laksmienarain Doebay was informed by the community about many irregularities having taken place in the weekend. He could not say anything about the value of the confiscated goods”, the report said.
Smuggling over the Corentyne has been an age-old issue. During the 70s and 80s, massive amounts of goods flowed into Guyana over the river but in recent years increasing traffic has come from Guyana. Cigarettes have been one of the items smuggled in big quantities and large amounts of cocaine have also gone in that direction.
In February this year, DWT had reported that the Suriname Customs chief would visit Guyana to discuss the smuggling problem with his counterpart at the Guyana Revenue Authority.
In a comment to Stabroek News, GRA head Khurshid Sattaur had stressed that “the illegal activities” at the border have been a recurring problem for the GRA and he recalled that some time ago he instructed officials at customs to engage their Surinamese counterparts on the issue. “The talks have been ongoing and we have discussed strategies in the past, but this problem is not going way. What we can do is keep working on the strategies and GRA is committed to that. We have a duty to the people of this country, not to businesses,” he added
