KLAFA vs. COMPTROLLER OF CUSTOMS AND EXCISE

JUDGMENT OF SARKODEE J. The plaintiff is a trader and normally resides in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. On 17 November 1976 she arrived at the Jewi Wharf, Half-Assini, from Abidjan. In her evidence she said she was then travelling to Lome in the Republic of Togo to visit her daughter who attends school there when at the wharf she was asked by the Border Guards to declare any money she had on her. She said further that in the process of declaring her goods the Border Guards sergeant took a tin of powder from her travelling bag. When the tin was opened it was found to contain 635,000 C.F.A. francs and some cedis instead of talcum powder. The Border Guard alleged that the plaintiff was concealing the money and so seized the 635,000 C.F.A. francs. Later the defendants issued a notice of seizure which reads: “Take notice that the following cash 635,000 C.F.A. francs have this day been seized as forfeited to government on account of a contravention of the Customs Ordinance, Cap 167 and secti.....