The Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) in the Upper West region has burnt about one hundred thirty eight and half cartons, translating into six thousand nine hundred and seventy four rims assorted smuggled foreign cigarettes of various descriptions in Wa.The value for duty purposes on the smuggled assorted foreign cigarettes has been estimated at GHc 12,321.01 and the duty that would have been evaded works up to Ghc39, 831.1.The sector commander of the Upper West Region, Ben Suri disclosed this at a ceremony to burn the smuggled items.Mr. suri said the smugglers were arrested variously at Kaleo check point, Gindabuo and Bole-Chacha, all within the CEPS command of the Upper West Region.Ben Suri said the problem is that borders cannot generally be policed from one end to the other completely, and in most cases the border area is porous so smugglers take advantage of the absence of officers to go about their business unless they are crossed by officers on duty.He noted that smuggling can take place along any border, adding, cigarette smuggling is a regular feature in the Upper West Region and mentioned border towns such as, Hamile, Babili, and Lawra along the Black Volta as among the most notorious areas when it comes to cigarette smuggling in the region.He said his outfit is putting in place pragmatic measures to ensure that smuggling within the Upper West region is curtailed or totally eliminated.He said as the smugglers come out with new strategies, the command also map out new modus operandi to arrest them.He said the smuggled cigarettes were not essentially different from what are currently being sold in the country, but said the fact is that since smugglers would want to make super profits they always find ways and means to outwit and evade the payment of tax to maximize profits and attributed this to greed on the part of the smugglers.Asked whether the burning of the items does not constitute revenue loss to the state, Ben Suri said, in most cases smugglers bolt away, leaving the police no option but to burn the items.He said as an English speaking country all foreign products that enters the country should have English labels adding, per the country’s regulation any product not in the English language must be properly translated.The upper west CEPS Commander said it is also an attempt to help local industries grow by not stifling them through such illegal foreign importations.He stated ‘‘if allowed to go on unchecked, it creates problems for the government of the day since unemployment will be rampant leading to armed robberies and other social vices’’.