The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) last night intercepted a commuter taxi smuggling bags of rice at Kibimba highway in Eastern Uganda.
In a tweet, URA said “Busitema enforcement team intercepted a commuter taxi UAP 886X at 2:00 am at Kibimba highway. The taxi, notoriously used for smuggling had been evasive for a while, until last night.”
URA says the taxi was driven to the Busitema checkpoint where verification was done revealing 2,055 kilograms of Basmati parboiled rice with the Certificate of Origin indicating Pakistan.
Public transport vehicles are a new means smugglers are using to carry out their activities.
While addressing the press recently, Julius Nkwasire, the Assistant Commissioner for Enforcement at URA, explained that other recoveries in July were interceptions done on interstate buses that might not be thoroughly checked as they cross borders.
Nwasire said recent seizures included deodorants, meters of printed viscose material, cosmetics with hydroquinone and mercury, electricals, meters of plain polyester materials, ladies’ wrappers and dresses.
Last financial year alone (2021/22), sh8b was recovered from fines and penalties from parties involved in smuggling.
URA says smugglers risk losing their motor vehicles to the state among other ramifications.
