Bawku Police intercept two trucks with smuggled fertilizer

The Police in Bawku have intercepted two trucks fully loaded with subsidized fertilizer being smuggled to a neighbouring country.

ACP Kwaku Boadu Peprah, the Bawku Divisional Police Commander, who disclosed this to the Ghanaian Times on the phone yesterday said both trucks, which were carrying a total of 2,000 bags of the fertilizer, were intercepted at the Tilli barrier on Friday night.

The vehicles were then escorted to Bawku on Saturday in the morning, he added.

According to ACP Peprah, the drivers of the vehicles during interrogation said that their trucks were loaded with the commodity at Tema and belonged to the “Ganorma” company at Tamale.

He further alleged that the drivers said on reaching Tamale, one Alhaji Gonorma, owner of the company, met them at the outskirts of the town, collected the invoice given to them at Tema and issued them with a new invoice bearing the name of one Hajia Suwaiba Awudu in Bawku.

Alhaji Ganorma then gave the drivers Hajia Suwaiba’s contact number and asked them to send the fertilizer to her at Bawku, he intimated.

According to ACP Peprah, when the trucks got to Tilli on Friday, night, the police arrested them.

He indicated that when Hajia was invited to Bawku Police Station for questioning on the first day, she denied knowledge of any fertilizer consigned to her by Alhaji Ganorma.

On the second day, Hajia Suwaiba came back to the station to say that she forgot that Alhaji Ganorma had earlier called to inform her about the fertilizer which were on the way coming.

ACP Peprah also disclosed that when Hajia was probed further, it came out that the Municipal Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Bawku did not issue her with a permit to bring any fertilizer to Bawku.

This revelation made the police believe that Hajia Suwaiba was colluding with some people to smuggle the fertilizer out of the country, Mr. Peprah explained.

According to him, Hajia would be arraigned before the court today, and the vehicles would be released to their owners after off-loading the fertilizer.