Check paperwork on imported cars
May 03, 2006
POLICE have been screening vehicles in Kampala as part of an Interpol operation to recover vehicles stolen from Japan, Dubai and elsewhere. Over 200 vehicles were screened on Tuesday and 24 vehicles impounded.
POLICE have been screening vehicles in Kampala as part of an Interpol operation to recover vehicles stolen from Japan, Dubai and elsewhere. Over 200 vehicles were screened on Tuesday and 24 vehicles impounded. A similar operation is already underway in Kenya and Tanzania.
It is not desirable that East Africa should become a dumping ground for stolen vehicles. It discredits the region and undermines legitimate car trade in East Africa. The police in the three countries are therefore absolutely right to vigorously cooperate with Interpol in this crackdown on stolen vehicles.
However some car owners are arguing that the crackdown is unfair. They argue that it is not a crime to purchase stolen goods so long as one does it in good faith, believing that the seller is the genuine owner of the goods.
There is some truth in this argument. However in many cases the buyers will have felt that they were getting a good bargain when they bought the vehicle cheaply and may have had some suspicion that something might not have been quite right about the vehicle.
The inconvenience that these buyers are now suffering is therefore a direct consequence of their failure to check carefully on the provenance of the vehicles that they bought.
Police should retain these impounded vehicles until they have interrogated the car dealers who sold them so that they can advise police where they were sourced.
After checking, the police should then restore the vehicles to their owners unless they discover that they were purchased in bad faith.
In future, anyone buying an imported secondhand car should double-check the paperwork to make certain that it is not stolen, especially if the car seems unusually cheap. In future it will be more difficult for Ugandans to argue that they purchased stolen vehicles in good faith since they now know that there is a racket of importing stolen cars.
Ends
It is not desirable that East Africa should become a dumping ground for stolen vehicles. It discredits the region and undermines legitimate car trade in East Africa. The police in the three countries are therefore absolutely right to vigorously cooperate with Interpol in this crackdown on stolen vehicles.
However some car owners are arguing that the crackdown is unfair. They argue that it is not a crime to purchase stolen goods so long as one does it in good faith, believing that the seller is the genuine owner of the goods.
There is some truth in this argument. However in many cases the buyers will have felt that they were getting a good bargain when they bought the vehicle cheaply and may have had some suspicion that something might not have been quite right about the vehicle.
The inconvenience that these buyers are now suffering is therefore a direct consequence of their failure to check carefully on the provenance of the vehicles that they bought.
Police should retain these impounded vehicles until they have interrogated the car dealers who sold them so that they can advise police where they were sourced.
After checking, the police should then restore the vehicles to their owners unless they discover that they were purchased in bad faith.
In future, anyone buying an imported secondhand car should double-check the paperwork to make certain that it is not stolen, especially if the car seems unusually cheap. In future it will be more difficult for Ugandans to argue that they purchased stolen vehicles in good faith since they now know that there is a racket of importing stolen cars.
Ends