The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has seized two trucks and a salon car transporting smuggled goods from Kenya to Uganda through Kityerela in the Mayuge district.
This operation was carried out on January 30, and the intercepted items included Kitengi clothes, rolls of fabric, and 34 cartons of future phones of it2160 which were smuggled into Uganda Uganda through a lake in Kityerela in Mayuge district.
Phillip Ofubo Jinja in – charge customs enforcement officer said that they are still tracing the owner of the Toyota Noah that was illicitly transporting the 34 cartons of future phones of it2160, which have a tax obligation of over 100 million.
”Our informers in Kityerela in Mayuge district tipped us about this illegal transit and it is why we were able to intercept all vehicles that were illegally transporting these items through a lake in Kityerela,’’ Ofubo said
According to Paul Karatunga the Customs Enforcement Supervisor in the Eastern region, URA has two trucks that were intercepted by their enforcement team in Jinja whereby one was intercepted on 25 January 2024 and the other one was intercepted this morning.
He further said that the goods that were intercepted have a value in terms of taxes and fines of 230 million that would have been lost if our interventions were not successful.
Karatunga further called upon the public to desist from the vice of smuggling because it is costly on the part of the nation and business community and urged clients to go through the gazetted customs border points, like Busia, Malava and many others to avoid paying two times the normal amount once you have been arrested for smuggling of goods.
He added that URA is going to continue fighting this evil vice against illicit trade and smuggling of goods into the country to avoid or to minimize revenue loss to our country.
