The thought of handcuffed wrists and the penalties that come with smuggling are perhaps the least of worries for most habitual smugglers. They are firm in their “get-rich-quick” missions with smuggling.
In Iganga, the URA enforcement team has been gathering information on a notorious smuggler who often used porous routes to dodge URA checkpoints.
Unfortunately, this time round, luck was not on his side. The team was armed with information and planned for his arrest.
“We trailed him and managed to intercept him from Iganga trading centre on the Iganga –Jinja Highway at around 3:15 am on Saturday,” narrated Winfred Kusiima, a customs officer in Iganga.
He had loaded a Fuso truck, registration number UBC 197A with smuggled goods concealed under plastic scrap. Although he took off, the team recovered assorted textile material, rice and used under garments as per details below;
| Description | QTY |
| Assorted Kitenge Material – COO China | 33,126.87 square meters |
| Plain Polyester Material – COO China | 11,301.17 square meters |
| Polyester Lining Material – COO China | 11,917.59 square meters |
| Dera Material – COO China | 2,125.06 square meters |
| Polyester half petty – COO China | 200 pieces |
| 43 bales x 36kgs of Used under garments | 1.6 tonnes |
| Dera scarves | 28 kilograms |
| Assorted Pakistani Rice (Baraf and Sana) | 725 kilograms |
Currently, offence management is on course to ensure that URA recovers taxes from the smuggled goods.
Additional Reporting by Immaculate Wanyenze
