By Annet Nantongo
URA enforcement officers in Mutukula outwitted three smugglers in the last week. The operations involved a garments consolidation centre, assorted items on a fuso, and a ton of sugar in a premio saloon car.
The multifaceted role of customs spans from ensuring compliance with legal standards for imported goods to protection of society from undesirable and harmful products, protecting the economy by safeguarding the market space from illicit traders and goods.
On the night of September 08th 2023, the enforcement team retrieved 15 bales of 104 pieces of hooded jumpers per bale from a hidden store in Kakuto before he could arrange bigger and safer means of transport to convey the same to Kampala.
Three days later, intelligence gathered wind of a Toyota Premio Reg No UAR 890F that was carrying smuggled Sugar through the porous borders between Uganda and Tanzania. A chase ensued and eventually, the premio was cornered in an area called Akattiro and later transferred to URA offices. Verification recovered one tone of 40 bags of 25kgs of Kagera Sugar originating from Tanzania.
On Wednesday 13th September, the team intercepted a Fuso Reg. No. UAY 549U with goods ordered from a warehouse in Dar-es-Salaam with Kyakatuma as the planned transport route. A chase in the dark of the night forced the smuggler to abandon the truck within Kibale in Rakai. The loot contained the items below:
10 cartons of carambola herbal soap from USA.
150 cartons of Nevia roll on from Germany
98 rolls of 25 yards of one side printed polyester material from china
960 pieces of access full charger kit model
10 boxes of 100 pieces of I-access data cables
6 boxes of 100 pieces of I-access ear phones
06 packs x 50 pieces of I-access ceramic screen protector
1440 packs of 16 capsules 500mg of Flucamox (amocycillin &fluciomacillin) from Egypt
540 packs of 3 400mg capsules of Gynozol from Egypt
18 boxes with 24 packs of 20 sachets of 20gms of café troika from Malaysia
58 boxes with 120 dozens of 90gms of dettal soap from UAE
260 pieces of cotton round neck long sleeved tshirts from China
30 pieces of polyester ladies maxi suhendra with scarf from Indonesia
6 pieces of ladies high heels and 6 pieces of ladies’ sandal shoes all from China
44 pieces of 100mls of assorted perfumes from UAE.
“URA continues to engage taxpayers and the business community to educate them about the right processes and procedures to follow while doing business in Uganda. However, where a taxpayer has intentions of breaking the law, enforcement comes into play, which explains the growth in interceptions,” noted Ibrahim Bbossa, the URA spokesperson.
In the fiscal year 2022/23, customs enforcement operations across the country, recovered a total of UGX 132.77 billion through 14,187 seizures. URA urges clients to remain vigilant and comply with procedures that have been created to facilitated trade.
Additional reporting by Moses Ankunda, Customs Officer Mutukula
