The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

CUSTOMS Comptroller Ralph Munroe yesterday warned that his department will be going after people who do not have distribution rights to sell alcohol after receiving several complaints that some businesses have been selling the beverages illegally.

Mr Munroe said he was informed by local proprietors that a lot of alcohol now on the market is being sold by companies that did not have the right to sell the beverages.

He called on those taking part in such illegal activity to “cease and desist” immediately as he warned that the Department of Customs will not tolerate people “who have run afoul of the law”.

“We have had some complaints recently from the major distributors from alcoholic beverages in The Bahamas and that complaint is that it is come to their attention that there are a lot of products on the Bahamian market that they have sole distributorship for that they are not responsible for selling to the public,” he said during a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday.

“We say here at this press conference, so that those persons who have run afoul of the law and may have imported them whether they were smuggled or whether they did so simply without the permission, because it is an intellectual property that the sole distributor has. We’re saying to them to cease and desist and that is an area that customs are going to pursue vigorously.”

Mr Munroe said his department had a duty to protect those businesses’ intellectual property and committed the agency to doing just that.

“A lot of beers we understand that are out there and the sole distributor informed us that it didn’t come through them. There is other hard alcoholic liquor that is out there and they have informed us that they are not responsible for them being in the country,” he continued.

“We’re not saying that the duty hasn’t been paid. We’re saying that persons who have an intellectual property, they have a right to regard that. They pay for that. It is their property, and we have a duty as a department to protect that property so all persons who may have run afoul of the law in that regard, we are putting them on warning at the customs department. We will be coming after you.

“After all, we are a country of laws.”

He also made similar warnings to firearm and drug smugglers as he pointed out recent seizures by the department in partnership with other law enforcement agencies.

“I believe the results would’ve been seen in recent weeks, you would’ve seen where customs have been responsible for seizure of firearms and, of course, of drugs and I just say it’s a different day and, of course, we also give warning to those persons who have been engaged in those trades to cease and desist,” Mr Munroe also said.

“We have a duty. We have a commitment to the Bahamian people to work along with law enforcement officers to ensure that we have a safe and a just society. We stand by that commitment and we are willing and ready to take on the challenge, of course, working with other law enforcement and agencies.”