The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has warned that air travellers arriving in the country with more than two mobile phones may have the devices treated as commercial importation and subjected to customer duty at ports of entry. 

The GRA Customs Commissioner, Aaron Kanor, stated this during a media briefing at the Accra International Airport on Wednesday, urging travellers to limit the number of phones on them to two upon arriving in Ghana to avoid extra charges. 

The commissioner noted that some travellers were fond of bringing multiple phones into the West African country, often on behalf of others, warning such individuals to desist from the practice.

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

Mr Kanor added that travellers were only entitled to enter Ghana with one personal phone, while an additional phone belonging to a family member or friend is subject to a duty levy. 

He stated that the phones being brought into Ghana under the guise of personal ownership were often expensive and represent a valuable source of revenue.

“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.

“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,” Mr Kanor added.