Smugglers destroy security lights along Aflao frontier

Aflao (Volta Region) -- All security lights erected along the main Ghana-Togo frontier at Aflao have been destroyed by suspected smugglers, plunging the border line into pitch darkness at night.

In addition, residents have turned the security zone and the "no man's land" along the border into farmlands, thereby obstructing customs surveillance on the unofficial crossing points, popularly called 'beats'.

Worried Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) officers, who led the Press round the frontiers on Tuesday said their investigations revealed that unknown smugglers and their unscrupulous aides used catapults to throw stones to break the bulbs and the tubes.

It was observed that there was no structure such as tents at the Customs Check Points along the unofficial routes, except wooden benches on which they sit them. This, the officials said, did not only expose them to the weather but also put them at the mercy of criminals.

These routes also lacked access roads for vehicular patrols. Unlike the Togolese side of the border, residential properties were sited very close to the "beats", making it difficult for Customs patrol teams to identify local residents from commuters.

"We are sometimes forced to mingle with the residents. This situation compromises our duty of checking smuggling, as some of them could be aiding smuggling by giving them shelter," one official said

Mr Kow Amissah-Koomson, Assistant Commissioner at the Aflao collection post, described the problems as very worrying and said the CEPS Management law passed in 1993 places the determination of surveillance zones and approval of routes for customs purposes, among other things, in the domain of the CEPS governing board.

Mr Amissah-Koomson said the Aflao sector of CEPS could not eject encroachers on its operational zone. However, the Sector had submitted a situation paper with proposals on the issue to the authorities and has since been expecting a reaction. He said the Sector had plans to fix the lights but was apprehensive about how to protect them against destruction by the criminals.