Latest update January 1st, 2025 1:00 AM
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GRA targets smugglers at Guyana/ Suriname border
Boat owners plying their trade at the Guyana/ Suriname border are now required to report to Customs at Corriverton and Nickerie, with valid Customs Clearance for the boats, as the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in collaboration with senior officials of Suriname Customs and Excise Department implemented various initiatives to curtail smuggling activities.
This is in response to reports of persons submitting forged documents at the Guyana/Suriname border in a bid to defraud the tax system. 
Currently, the Customs officials from both countries exchange information daily. Consequently, more boat owners are now reporting to Line Path, Corriverton and paying the relevant duties and taxes. The tax agency noted that these initiatives have resulted in significant revenue collection, since during May there has been a reduction in revenue collection at Corriverton.
This drop was attributed to the resurgence in smuggling activities in Berbice.
“Investigations conducted revealed that boat operators were submitting forged Customs Clearances to Suriname Customs officials in Nickerie. The submission of the Customs Clearances issued by Customs officials at Corriverton is one of the requirements for boat owners to load goods in Nickerie.
In so doing, boat owners who load goods with forged Customs Clearances, undetected by Suriname Customs Officials, do not report to Customs at Corriverton with the goods for the payment of the applicable customs duties and taxes,” GRA noted.
Commissioner–General of GRA, Khurshid Sattaur, said that the agency has implemented new procedures for the profiling of imports which necessitate more stringent perusal of import declarations and supporting documents.
He noted that a team comprising Customs staff and a Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) officer was tasked to review valuation of imports and classification of goods. In addition, Law Enforcement Officers from Georgetown were deployed to conduct patrols to prevent smuggling activities which were on the rise.
These initiatives have resulted in greater scrutiny of import declarations and adjustment in values declared.
“Unscrupulous businessmen are finding all kinds of ways to cheat the system from paying taxes,” Sattaur noted.
According to GRA, Jameel Baksh, Head, Integrated Regional Tax Officers attended a meeting in Nickerie, Suriname, with senior officials of the Surinamese Customs and Excise Department on May 25, 2012.
At that meeting, decisions made in July 2011 were reviewed and new procedures to curtail smuggling activities between the border towns of Nickerie in Suriname and Corriverton in Guyana were initiated.
The new procedure agreed upon by the two parties necessitates that boat owners report to Customs at Corriverton and Nickerie, with valid Customs Clearance for the boats. This also entails daily information exchange.
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