Revenue tightens grip on smugglers
Nov 01, 2006
HOIMA-BASED Azaan Trading Limited, has forfeited a commercial vehicle registration number UAH 253P which the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) impounded with smuggled Supermatch cigarettes recently.
By Peter Kaujju
HOIMA-BASED Azaan Trading Limited, has forfeited a commercial vehicle registration number UAH 253P which the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) impounded with smuggled Supermatch cigarettes recently.
A URA source said two businessmen had been charged in a Nakawa court over the incident.
Fred Kasangaki and Geofrey Waithum, were arrested with 100 boxes of smuggled Supermatch cigarettes.
“The accused persons pleaded guilty and were sentenced to a fine of sh1m each or one year’s imprisonment,†said the source.
The source said the cigarettes would be destroyed in the open under supervision of State Prosecutor’s Court and the Police.
In a related development, the source said a car, registration number UAF 027K, belonging to Yusuf Mutaasa, was impounded in Busia after it was suspected to be carrying smuggled goods.
The source said 115 tins each with 20 packets of smuggled Supermatch cigarettes were discovered.
“But the owner of the car rushed to Police to report a car robbery at gunpoint,†said the source.
Mutaasa is now seeking to recover his vehicle, lost earnings due to ‘unlawful conversion’ at sh50,000 per day from September 21, special damages of sh3.5m, general and exemplary damages of sh200m.
The source said URA had started to bite hard on smugglers.
people who intended to evade through smuggling.
Ends
HOIMA-BASED Azaan Trading Limited, has forfeited a commercial vehicle registration number UAH 253P which the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) impounded with smuggled Supermatch cigarettes recently.
A URA source said two businessmen had been charged in a Nakawa court over the incident.
Fred Kasangaki and Geofrey Waithum, were arrested with 100 boxes of smuggled Supermatch cigarettes.
“The accused persons pleaded guilty and were sentenced to a fine of sh1m each or one year’s imprisonment,†said the source.
The source said the cigarettes would be destroyed in the open under supervision of State Prosecutor’s Court and the Police.
In a related development, the source said a car, registration number UAF 027K, belonging to Yusuf Mutaasa, was impounded in Busia after it was suspected to be carrying smuggled goods.
The source said 115 tins each with 20 packets of smuggled Supermatch cigarettes were discovered.
“But the owner of the car rushed to Police to report a car robbery at gunpoint,†said the source.
Mutaasa is now seeking to recover his vehicle, lost earnings due to ‘unlawful conversion’ at sh50,000 per day from September 21, special damages of sh3.5m, general and exemplary damages of sh200m.
The source said URA had started to bite hard on smugglers.
people who intended to evade through smuggling.
Ends