The introduction of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority’s (DVLA) clone detection system in May this year has so far led to the impoundment of 85 illegally imported vehicles, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Authority, Mr Julius Neequaye Kotey, has disclosed.

He explained that vehicle cloning involved the fraudulent use of the chassis number of a legally imported and registered vehicle to register another vehicle that had been illegally imported, most of which originated from Togo.

The impounded vehicles, comprising saloon cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), have been handed over to the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority for the payment of the required import duties before they can be legally registered.

Mr Kotey disclosed this on Friday during a media engagement on the rollout of the new chip-embedded number plate for various categories of vehicles, including motorcycles and tricycles.

He said the authority had, over the past month, been screening every vehicle presented for registration with a clone detection device before processing its registration.

“For about a month now, when we began checking the clone aspect of vehicles through a device before registration, we have been able to impound about 80 vehicles. They are handed over to Customs, where owners pay the required duties before returning for registration,” he stated.

The Director of Inspection and Registration at the DVLA, Mr Kwasi Bona Otuo Srebour, expressed concern over the continued misuse of Defective Vehicle (DV) number plates by some motorists.

He explained that DV plates were meant only for moving unregistered vehicles, conducting test drives and transporting vehicles to garages for repairs, but were increasingly being used for routine driving in contravention of the Road Traffic Regulations.

Mr Srebour urged owners of vehicles registered before 2023 to complete the onboarding process, including vehicle inspection, document verification, Ghana Card authentication and the issuance of a certificate of title and registration card.