Almost a year has passed since Customs officials announced that they were launching an investigations into hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of un-taxed goods found in North Andros – yet to-date, no updates have been issued to the public.
In March 2005, when The Tribune broke the story about allegations of a largescale, “syndicate like” Customs scam in Andros, officials responded by saying they would look into the matter.
Sources had claimed that luxury cars, motorcycles, pallets of alcohol and high speed boats were being imported to North Andros un-taxed, and then shipped to New Providence.
At the time, one source called it the tip of an “iceberg” of Customs collection abuses on the island.
As a result, a team of Customs officers and police from New Providence flew to Andros and raided the government dock in Morgan’s Bluff.
One source claimed that the smugglers were tipped off – as pallets of rum and other alcoholic beverages were found “washed up” on the shore of Joseph Cay.
Joseph Cay is just north of Morgan’s Bluff, on the shipping route that cargo barges must pass in order to land at the government dock.
According to reliable sources in Andros, these activities have been going on for almost 10 years. They said it has become an efficient system, in which items come prewrapped in black tape and are falsely labelled.
In some instances, the trailers are allegedly are not examined, but are shipped onward to New Providence unvalued, and un-checked.
Minister of State for Finance with responsibility for Customs James Smith said that the Customs authorities have not reported to his department on their investigations, but promised that he would look into the matter to see what has been done.
Last year, a raid performed on March 31 in the Morgan’s Bluff area resulted in more than $290,000 worth of goods being confiscated.
Days later, a second raid netted another stash of uncustomed goods including cars, motorcycles, a tractor head, and a trailer full of alcoholic beverages.
When interviewed then, Customs Comptroller John Rolle said that the impression was that such activities had been taking place in Andros for “quite some time”. He stressed that the investigation was still underway.
Mr Rolle said that the Customs Department has their suspicions as to whom the goods were destined for in Nassau, but would not release this information at the time.
When contacted yesterday, Garth Green the senior deputy comptroller at Customs, confirmed that information on the investigations was being prepared to be handed to Mr Smith, who is to inform the public on the progress so far.
By PAUL TURNQUEST Tribune Staff Reporter
