Regional Commander of Region Nine, Keithon King, who has been accused of smuggling a quantity of uncustomed alcohol from Lethem to Georgetown, yesterday denied that that was the situation and has signalled to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) he will be paying the required tax for the alcohol under his name.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, King related that he was among a few other ranks who were driving out of Lethem to conduct police business.
“I was coming out for the Christmas breakfast and the ranks were coming to pick up hampers to take back. As we were coming we decided to bring out Christmas presents here for persons and you know people would ask you to bring things for them. We were not smuggling anything, I don’t know where they got that from,” King said as he explained his side of the story.
He stated too that the items were labelled with names of persons as gifts and there has been no intention of having it retailed on the market.
Police in a statement yesterday said that on Tuesday December 15, 2020, officials of GRA intercepted Force motor vehicle PYY 2671 and found a quantity of suspected uncustomed alcohol.
At the time of the interception, King and two other ranks were in the vehicle.
Public Relations Officer, Assistant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor has stated that an investigation into the incident is being conducted by GRA. When contacted, he told Stabroek News that the force will await the finding of the revenue authority before taking any further action.
According to Andries-Junor the ranks and the commander remain on duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
Meanwhile, King maintains that there has been no effort to smuggle alcohol from Lethem and noted that it was purchased there.
However, he said that after he indicated his willingness to pay his portion of the taxes, he was served with a notice of detention and is awaiting word from GRA.
He said too that the other ranks who were sending out their presents will have to decide if they are willing to pay their portion of duty on the alcohol.
