By Akinyi Winiefred
Smuggling is now taking another form which is dumping, where individuals transporting goods through foreign borders don’t wait to reach the destination but instead maneuver around the system and sell them within the country of transit.
This was the case with a truck registration number UBE591X/UAR571C which was destined for the Democratic Republic of the Congo but illegally diverted to Nalukolongo in disguise of parking. This is contrary to Section 104(b) of the East African Community Customs Management Act.
The Central Monitoring Center (CMC) tracking team at the Uganda Revenue Authority was alerted to tampered seals last Wednesday.
This alert was cascaded to the Rapid Response Unit, which located the truck and found both the electronic and metallic seals broken and some goods offloaded.
The driver and off-loaders took off to the nearby bushes, abandoning the truck and empty jerrycans of cooking oil.
The truck was towed to the URA headquarters in Nakawa, where thorough verification revealed four empty jerrycans of cooking oil, nine that had been half-emptied, and over 1,000 that had broken seals awaiting emptying.
Offense management is currently underway.
The Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) allows for the tracking of transit goods for revenue authorities in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan on a single platform, with Burundi joining soon.
Once transit goods are released from the port, they are equipped with RECTS electronic seals, which enable real-time visibility at the Centralized Monitoring Center. This center handles and responds to any security warnings generated by the seals.
The items are tracked all the way to their destination thanks to cooperation among the partner states. This has been effective in managing goods in transit, significantly enhancing goods accountability, and reducing cargo transit time.
Additional reporting by Brian Kacucu
