By Akinyi Winiefred, Media Management with Correspondence from Moses Amwine, Busia Customs
Customs officials from Uganda Revenue Authority have seized counterfeit money which was being smuggled into the country via a modern coast bus registration number KDA 155X. The Ugandan currency notes had been stashed in a conspicuous package that had been declared but later manually crossed checked.
This triggered suspicion from officers who promptly opened the package to find 10,000 and 5000shs notes carefully hidden. According to customs officer Moses Amwine, the load was thought to be a case of failure to declare but upon verification turned out to be counterfeit money amounting to UGX 40,845,000.
“On the face of it, we thought the offence of failure to declare cash was in the bag, but while counting, the notes looked a little odd and slippery. This is when we sought assistance from the inhouse DTB bank whose hi-tech machine discovered that all the money was indeed fake,” he recounted.
Three suspects have since been arrested and the bus which was being used to convey the money seized. The law on prohibited goods provides for a fine of 50% of the value of items and in case of counterfeit notes, the penalty is imprisonment for the suspect.
Similarly, Sec 199 of the East African community Customs Act of 2004 sets a fine of not more than USD 5,000 for such means of conveyance, in this case the modern coast bus.
URA continues to employ measures to counter tactics from economic saboteurs such as these that can bring artificial inflation to the economy.
