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The government turned over 13 rosewood containers that it impounded on Friday August 27 to the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) for further investigation.
This was revealed by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, when he inspected the rosewood containers confiscated at the port of Tema on Tuesday, August 31.
These rosewood containers were reportedly transported from Nigeria.
The investigation will help uncover the people and the circumstances behind the importation of the merchandise into the country.
Mr. Jinapor said there is an outright ban on the harvesting and trading of rosewood in accordance with President Akufo-Addo’s guidelines, hence the confiscation of the merchandise.
He said that, based on the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), five countries in the West African sub-region are not allowed to trade in rosewood.
These are Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia and Senegal.
Any of those countries, he said, will be discredited for illegally exporting rosewood out of the country.
According to the minister, the government, in the coming months, will put in place new policies regarding the use of confiscated rosewood.
Mr. Samuel Jinapor noted that the current enforcement regime has succeeded in ensuring the regular confiscation of illegal rosewood.
He revealed that his group was in talks with his National Security counterpart to investigate how some people are continually trying to illegally sell rosewood.
“We are convinced that there is a very sophisticated cartel involved in this trade and we believe that National Security can unravel it.
“We have asked the National Security Architecture to help the ministry unravel and allow us to better understand the issues and circumstances surrounding the operations of this cartel,” the minister said.
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