By Frank Kamuntu
URA enforcement officers in West Nile have seized over 1000 liters of smuggled petrol in Elegu, Amuru district.
According to Simon Ssentale Wasswa an enforcement officer in West Nile, the petrol that had been smuggled from neighboring South Sudan was impounded after two separate operations.
“Last Thursday, we impounded a Toyota G-touring REG NO UAL 827S conveying Colgate toothpaste and toothbrushes along Elegu-Gulu Road in the wee hours of Sunday morning. We laid an ambush at River Onyama where several youths were caught red-handed with a number smuggled items,” Ssentale narrated.
By the end of the operations, several items were impounded including;
A motor vehicle registration number UAL 827S
9 Ugandan registered motorcycles
60 litres of jerrycans of petrol
20 litres of cooking oil
9 boxes of Miller Glucose Biscuits
8 cartons of herbal Colgate toothpaste
5 cartons of colgate double action toothbrushes
5bombas of Oris cigarette
5bombas of Gold mount cigarette
The impounding of the motor vehicle is in accordance with sections 199(iii) and 200 of the East African Community Customs Management Act which states that the owner of a means of conveyance used in smuggling is liable to a fine not exceeding USD 5,000.
Additionally, motor vehicles found conveying smuggled goods risk forfeiture to the state.
Most of the smuggled items enter the country through porous borders and according to URA’s Assistant Commissioner of Public and Corporate Affairs Ibrahim Bbossa, the authority has heightened intelligence-led targeted operations to curb the vice.
This is in addition to other anti-smuggling measures like the use of Non-intrusive inspection technology, cargo tracking and raiding of consolidation centers among others.
