A Skeldon, Corentyne hire car operator, who says he was unwittingly used by a passenger trying to smuggle liquor into the country, is claiming that he and his livelihood have been ensnared in the ensuing Customs probe.
The young man’s father, Fraiesoi Samaroo, who operates a transportation service between Suriname and Guyana, stated that the situation has left the family confused since his son is working to pay instalments due on the car, which has since been impounded by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). He described the situation as puzzling, noting that his son was already exonerated from being responsible for the alcohol, but a week after they suddenly found evidence against him.
Commissioner-General of the GRA Khurshid Sattaur told Stabroek News on Wednesday that he is familiar with the matter and he maintained that the GRA was operating within the ambit of the law.
According to Samaroo, on April 30, his son, who operates the car between Skeldon and the city, picked up the passenger, who was among a group that cleared Customs at the Guyana side of the ‘back-track’ crossing at Skeldon, on the Corentyne. Later, in the vicinity of Cottage, Mahaicony, persons in a GRA identifying themselves as Customs officers pulled alongside and asked that the hire car driver pull over. The officers then proceeded to search the car and found close to a dozen bottles of Hennessey liquor in the passenger’s bag. As a result, the driver was ordered to go to Customs House, on Main Street, in Georgetown, where officials questioned the passenger, who admitted ownership of the bag and that he did not know the driver.
“They ask me if I know him and I said no because I just picked him up like any other passenger,” the driver, who asked not to be named, told Stabroek News. He said that soon after the smuggler was fined $115,000, while he wrote a statement on what transpired and was told that he was free to go.
However, a week after he was summoned by the GRA and the customs officers told him that an investigation was carried out and it found that he had colluded with the passenger that was smuggling the alcohol.
Adding to his shock, he was told that his car would be impounded until he paid a fine of over $200 000.
Sattaur told Stabroek News that the Customs officers were acting on a tip off when they stopped the car. He said that the vehicle was impounded after an investigation was completed, while adding that there are instances where taxi drivers and smugglers collude with each other in order to defraud the state of revenues.
Samaroo said that he will go all out to ensure that the family is able to collect their car, noting that the situation was unfair.
He said they even visited Sattaur and explained themselves to him. “We are poor people. Like anybody else, we making a living and me son working hard just to pay off for the car and we can’t understand why he gah pay a fine when is a passenger had the illegal thing,” said the young man’s mother.
