Lethem Commander offered to pay taxes on seized liquor

Lethem’s Police Commander, Keithton King, has offered to pay the duties on the 30 cases of liquor that were seized by the Guyana Revenue Authorities (GRA) on Tuesday. GRA officers had intercepted King and two other police ranks at Linden with 30 cases of Black Stone Whiskey and eight boxes of cologne. GRA believes that the items were being smuggled.

King has since denied this and claimed that items are sold right in Lethem, Region Nine, an area that borders with Brazil. He said the items were for his staffers and family members. Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday, King said that he maintains his position but due to all the “running around” with the GRA officers, he offered to pay the taxes on the items. King had left his Region Nine district, which he is in charge of, in a police pick-up to attend the Police Commissioner’s Breakfast, which was scheduled for Wednesday morning in Georgetown.

GRA officers had received a tipoff about smuggling activities and decided to intercept the police pickup. They found the suspected smuggled items covered beneath a tarpaulin in the pickup’s tray. The Commander said that the items were being brought out for family and staff members. He added that the boxes were labelled with the names of its respective owners. The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has since informed the media that it has been made aware that one of its vehicles was intercepted with suspected smuggled items. GPF had further stated that it is cognizant that King and two other ranks were in the vehicle at time. The Public Relations Officer of the force, Royston AndriesJunor notified as well that the commander and the ranks are still on duty as GRA continues its investigations.

(Kaieteur News)