EOCO Seizes 37 Luxury Cars Allegedly Stolen From USA And Canada, Arrests 10 Garage Owners

In a statement posted on its official Facebook page on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, EOCO said that the operation was carried out in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Royal Canadian Mounted Mice (RCMP).

“On Friday, December 9 2022, thirty-seven (37) of such vehicles were retrieved from some garages in Accra during which ten (10) persons were arrested. The suspects have since been questioned and granted enquiry bail,” the statement signed by Head of Public Affairs, Faustina Lartey said in part.

EOCO is, therefore, cautioning prospective vehicle buyers to conduct due diligence before purchasing them.

The agency has promised to provide updates on further developments regarding the ongoing investigation in due course.

Meanwhile, members of the Vehicle and Assets Dealers Union of Ghana (VADUG) have accused EOCO, the police and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) of invading their garages and arbitrarily seizing their vehicles, while assaulting some of their members.

Reports say about 300 vehicles were seized and towed in a joint operation by the Police, GRA and EOCO, aimed at clamping down on owners of car garages who have been evading tax.

“We can confirm that these vehicles were imported mainly from Canada and the United States of America.

If anything at all, they should exercise a bit of caution in the implementation of this policy or directive. This will restore confidence and hope of the general public in law enforcement.

“We would like to place on record that VADUG members are law-abiding citizens who are going about their legitimate businesses. The vehicles that were seized have valid documents. All taxes and duties had already been paid to the Ghana Revenue Authority.

“We don’t want a situation where some people will take advantage to do all kinds of things. Christmas is less than 2 weeks away. The timing of this exercise is therefore absolutely wrong,” VADUG said in a statement.

The Economic and Organised Crime Office is a specialized agency established by the EOCO Act 2010 (Act 804) to monitor and investigate economic and organised crime and on the authority of the Attorney General to prosecute these offences to recover the proceeds of crime. As part of the functions of the Office, it co-operates with relevant foreign or international agencies in furtherance of its objectives.