Bahamas Customs officers seized an unquantified amount of alcohol from Made Men Sports Bar on Faith Avenue yesterday, alleging that the goods were “uncustomed”.
“We had suspicions that the persons operating that liquor store…they might have had uncustomed goods in the store,” said Bahamas Custom Superintendent Tyrone Sands.
“And so, we went there; at customs we would have had our own search warrant, so we would have gone there and we did our initial search and, of course, we discovered a variety of alcoholic beverages that were uncustomed.
“…When we say uncustomed goods, we simply mean the duty was not paid on them. They could not satisfy us that the duty was paid.”
Sands added, “Further, we also discovered that they were operating without a valid business license.
“And so, based on all of that, the comptroller advised the team to confiscate or seize the goods, and so that’s what you all would have seen – the officers just seizing those goods until we make our initial investigation.”
Several uniformed officers packed the goods into trucks yesterday morning, but Sands could not give an estimated value of the liquor or how many truckloads were confiscated as the investigation was still in its initial stages.
Bahamas Customs Department officers remove dozens of cases of alcoholic beverages from Made Men Sports Bar on Faith Avenue yesterday.
Ahvia J. Campbell
Liquor stores were among the countless businesses ordered closed on March 20 under the government’s emergency measures intended to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
Sands also said the customs comptroller will have to decide whether the matter would be referred to police based on the results of the investigation.
However, he said that the owner of the store could not provide supporting documentation for why he had the goods nor could he provide any evidence showing that duty had been paid.
“We give you an opportunity to prove,” he said.
“If we see this thing here, you know, what you say duty is paid [on], prove it. Show me your receipt, okay? Duty can be paid though they came directly from a foreign source or duty could be paid by it being bought locally.
“So, in either event, show us, prove it. At that point they were unable to do that.”
Sands added, “[W]e still have to do some paperwork because they’re (the owner) saying one thing…so we need to do an investigation.
“After that is done then the comptroller would decide. She would make the determination where we go from here.”
The post Customs officials seize liquor from sports bar appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/04/29/customs-officials-seize-liquor-from-sports-bar/
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