Travellers arriving in Ghana with more than two mobile phones may have the devices treated as a commercial importation and subjected to customs duty, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division has warned.

Customs Commissioner Aaron Kanor said travellers should avoid carrying phones belonging to other people if doing so would take the number of handsets in their possession beyond the permitted threshold.

Speaking at the Kotoka International Airport, Mr Kanor explained that travellers are expected to limit the phones they carry to personal use.

He said carrying several phones on behalf of other people could amount to a commercial importation because of the high value of devices such as the latest iPhones and Samsung models.

“If you are a carrier of seven phones, all the seven phones, they all give you phones. When you carry all those seven phones and you arrive, it will amount to what? Commercial.”

He continued:

“Because you as an individual, you are entitled to one. So we implore that when you are coming home, you do not collect people's things. If you collect them and they are beyond two, when you give it to a carrier, you can only carry two.”

Mr Kanor said the allowance could cover a traveller's own phone and another handset, for example, for a spouse.

“One for yourself and maybe one for your wife. If they are beyond that, then it amounts to commercial because all these phones are expensive.”

He noted that the increasing value of high-end smartphones makes them an important source of customs revenue when they are imported commercially.

The warning forms part of intensified checks by Customs on electronic devices being brought into the country through the airport.

Travellers have therefore been urged to declare additional handsets to Customs rather than attempting to bring them into Ghana as personal effects.

GRA Customs is also cautioning travellers to avoid carrying multiple phones on behalf of friends, relatives or other individuals, as such arrangements could result in the devices being classified as commercial imports and attracting the applicable duties.