By Frank Kamuntu
The customs enforcement team in Busia district received intelligence from its newly recruited informer who had trailed the truck from Kenya via the Tira porous point up to the Busia-Kenya border. The truck, registration No. KCE 941Q, was filled with assorted hardware items.
At about 1:45 p.m., the culprit stealthily approached the recently installed checkpoint at the Amungura bridge. Little did he know that he had walked right into the smuggling net that the URA team had set up after successfully navigating and dodging various checkpoints.
Moses Amwine, the station in charge of customs, revealed that once the truck load was captured and taken to their office, the smuggler came back later and paid a sum of UGX 56 million in taxes and penalties.
“Busia town is and was built from the smuggling activity; you cannot stop it,” said a taxpayer who declined to be identified.
However, Amwine noted that URA has continued to sensitize the Busia trading community to the dangers of smuggling, especially its effect on the economy and trading at large.
One of the major causes of smuggling in Busia is the difference in prices of commodities, which the people claim is big, thus forcing them to buy Kenyan products, which fetch way cheaper prices compared to those in Uganda.
The station in-charge for DT, Wilson Kasumba, also noted that the Busia trading community is nearly 90% covered in the presumptive tax bracket.
The truck and contents were hauled to the URA tactical base in Busia, and upon verification, the following were found:
21ctns x 150pcs of double open-end spanner. Size 20 x 22mm. Deluxe brand. Made in India. 22kgs/ctn
10packs x 10pcs of combination spanner. Size 15mm. Dragon hand brand
ctn x 2sets of 12pc ring spanners. Size 27mm
1ctn x 30packs x 10pcs of combination spanner. size 15mm. Dragon hand brand. Made in India
2ctns x 20packs x 10pcs of ring spanner. Size 16 x 17mm. Deluxe brand. Made in India
20ctns x 48pcs of panga. Size 457mm. Alligator brand. Art no M212-18
50bags x 50kgs of assorted sizes of mushroom head bolts with square nuts. Size 318x 7-1/2. 50kgs/bag
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50packages x 10pcs of ox-plough mouldboard. Golden maize brand. 29kgs/package
10packages x 30pcs of plough land slide. 47kgs/package
16packages x 40pcs of plough land slide. 40kgs/package
100packages x 12pcs x 2.5kgs of plough fitting chains. Size 7.5mm.
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