What you need to know:
- The suspects who were arrested Friday are currently being held at Jinja Road Police Station awaiting court process
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) enforcement team has apprehended four suspects for smuggling Oris Cigarettes in Ssenge village, Naluvule parish, Wakiso Sub County in Wakiso District.
The suspects who were arrested Friday are currently being held at Jinja Road Police Station awaiting court process.
Mr Ibrahim Bbosa, the URA Assistant Commission for Communication and Corporate Affairs, said URA intends to close revenue leakages to make sure they meet their obligation of mobilizing enough revenue to finance budget expenditures.
“Many of the challenges we find are the people who invest in smuggling. The smugglers are people who don’t want to pay taxes and it’s usually driven by greed for wealth. That is something that denies other legitimate businesses to operate in a fair and competitive market,” he said.
He however declined to disclose the names of the suspects.
Mr Bbosa told the Monitor that the exercise of cracking down on smugglers is ongoing across the country.
“We usually pay informers to help us disclose people who are dealing in illicit businesses especially contraband products. Most smuggled products today include cigarettes, cooking oil, and textiles among others.”
Once convicted under the East African Community Management Act, the suspects face a penalty of paying Shs19 million equivalent to 5000 USD.
Mr Moses Wanjala Owino, the manager for enforcement operations at URA, said they received the information last Thursday and they managed to seal off the area immediately.
After making a thorough search of the residence, 640,000 sticks of Oris cigarettes were recovered and it was realised it could have found its way into the country through the porous borders.
What makes Oris Cigarettes illegal?
Mr Bbosa said Oris Cigarettes are flavoured and yet they don’t allow flavoured cigarettes in the country. It has no health label indicating it is dangerous to the lives of people once consumed and has no country of origin and where it should be imported which is against the URA standards.
