Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has disclosed that as part of measures to curtail illicit tobacco trade in Ghana, the Authority has hinted its readiness to deploy drones at the borders.
The Authority made this known at a Capacity Building Workshop for Civil Society Organisations and Government Institutions organized by Vision for Alternative Development (VALD) with support from Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA).
The event which was under the theme: “Tobacco Taxation / Control and Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products,” seek to profess ways of controlling the illicit tobacco trade.
The Deputy Commissioner for Strategy, Research Policy and Programme of GRA, Dr. Alex Moyem Kombat, said that the drone strategy is the surest way of clamping down on the illicit tobacco trade at the boarders which leads to lost of revenue by the government.
Dr Kombat revealed that even though the drone strategy is a proposal yet to be considered, its implementation would help clamp down on those engaging in illicit tobacco trade and other illicit activities at the borders .
“It was proposed at GRA retreat that if we can use drones to check illegal activities on the boarders but that is yet to be considered but if it is considered it would be useful because it will be able to check those bringing in the products illegally”, Dr. Kombat added.
