BY ANNET NANTONGO
It is common for many truckers to transport cargo in the late-night hours for reasons like traffic jams. However, for this particular trucker, it wasn’t the case. His was a ‘double deception’ manoeuvre that failed miserably!
URA received prior information about this trucker who had refined his trick of loading contraband fabrics and concealing them with sacks of fertilizer for delivery to downtown Kampala. And to explore his chances of not getting caught, he chose to travel under the cover of darkness.
Unfortunately, the night hours of Thursday 10th March did not work. His truck registration number: KCZ 062 T, was intercepted, and physical verification revealed 2,006 SQM of Polycotton Printed Fabric material concealed under sacks of fertilizers.
For the period of July to December 2021, it was noted that the most smuggled goods are still; garments, motor-vehicle spares, textiles, hardware, electricals, cosmetics and stationery.
As the Taxman intensifies surveillance efforts, smugglers are not short of tactics to disable the taxman. Recently, in Hoima, a canter truck UAZ 468M driver was flagged down along Butiaba Road. Efforts to search his vehicle proved difficult after claiming that he had lost the key to his car cabin. This trick did not deter enforcement officers from their mission. They succeeded in accessing his car cabin and uncovered 23 pieces of new and used truck tyres.
In a separate operation, another culprit was nabbed using the long route from the Eastern side through Nakasongola on a ferry. He was planning to deliver 2,250kgs of Pakistan rice to Kampala. The smugglers’ shift in travel route is attributed to the unrelenting pressure supplied by the enforcement teams along the Jinja highway and the Kangulumira – Kayunga – Gayaza route, where many smugglers have succumbed to several interceptions.
As the smugglers loaded their truck with smuggled 90 Bags each of 25kgs of Sana and Baraf Long Grain Basmati Rice onto MV Kyoga that crosses to Nakasongola, URA watched closely as the ferry set off, and eventually, the truck was intercepted in Nakasongola.
In another anti-smuggling operation, another smuggler was rounded off in Namugodi, a town between Busia and Busitema. He was caught loading his truck Reg No. UAL 424V with 1,200kgs of assorted Indian Basmati Rice destined for the Busia market.
URA continues to warn Ugandans to desist from smuggling and report all suspicious trade practices in their areas.
The writer is a URA Media Management officer.
