By Annet Nantongo
URA is continuously tightening loose ends to curb smuggling in order to protect the trade field. While the taxman preaches engaging and educating traders and taxpayers, some instances have left no choice but to deploy the enforcement strategy.
Following the outcry from cigarette manufacturers in the country, the Fort portal enforcement team recently cast its nets wide to gather intelligence on cigarettes smuggled from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The nets had a successful big catch in Bundibugyo when they landed on consolidation premises that had rooms full of Supermatch and Oris cigarettes, soap and a few bleaching cosmetics.
The harvests collected 274 Bombas of Supermatch cigarettes made in Uganda for export to South Sudan and 261 Bombas of Oris slim double apple cigarettes made in arrangement with the owner in Germany. In addition, 51 cartons x 25 pieces of star blue soap from DRC and 46 pieces with over 7 litres of skin-bleaching creams from brands such as Coco pulp, Beauti, Pawpaw, pretty white, and Pawpaw oils, were recovered.
Smuggling has evolved over the years and takes several forms such as outright smuggling where traders move goods deliberately seeking unmanned entry points to avoid encountering customs officials. Concealment is another form where a taxpayer deceives the customs officer and also creates false compartments in logistics cars to hide goods.
Misclassification refers to using different codes to attract lower or no taxes on the goods; while for falsification, taxpayers present doctored documents to undervalue the cost of goods and attract lower duty.
Taxpayers also smuggle by way of diverting transit goods where cargo intended for export, say to South Sudan is channelled back into Uganda without paying taxes due. Other traders are round-tripping transit goods. Here, they take cargo to the destination country, offload, and then trickle the goods back into Uganda until the consolidation centers are filled and they sell them on the local market.
In Elegu, the enforcement team conducted a focused intelligence-led night ambush on the smugglers that cross through River Onyama and use shortcuts to join Abalokodi trading centre then connect to Pabbo town. The team was able to recover 800 litres of petrol plus three motorcycles from the night Ambush in Adjumani town, 1120 litres of Dyanas cooking oil from a consolidation centre and 5boxes weighing 30kgs of Miller Glucose Biscuit
Porous borders continue to pose a risk in the fight against illicit trade. According to Ibrahim Bbossa, the Assistant Commissioner for Public and Corporate Affairs at URA, the revenue collector has set in place strategies including the use of non-intrusive inspection technology, informers, conducting raids on suspected stores, and increasing enforcement in high-risk areas, among others, to counter the uncustomed goods from flooding the market.
