Gang tries to burn URA Arua office
Aug 05, 2009
UNIDENTIFIED people on Tuesday attempted to set ablaze the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) office in Arua town. The early morning incident came after the tax body’s operatives impounded a car with about eight cartons of contraband Supermatch cigarettes.
By Frank Mugabi
UNIDENTIFIED people on Tuesday attempted to set ablaze the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) office in Arua town. The early morning incident came after the tax body’s operatives impounded a car with about eight cartons of contraband Supermatch cigarettes.
URA northern regional manager Dan Arorwa said a petrol firebomb was thrown at the office’s back gate at around 7:00am, but the security guards put out the fire using sand.
UPDF soldiers from the 409 Brigade, who were called in to reinforce security at the premises, fired several bullets in the air to disperse a large crowd that had gathered around the building.
Arorwa said there was fear that people would take advantage of the confusion to break in and loot the impounded properties in the yard. He disclosed that although the people who attempted to burn the office were not identified, the first suspects were a gang of smugglers whom they had earlier engaged in a motor chase on the Arua-Koboko highway.
“We believe it was an attempt to retaliate because we impounded their vehicle and goods.†The chase that occurred at around 1:00am turned dramatic when the smugglers drove through the town centre before heading towards the Democratic Republic of Congo border.
Arorwa said they later found the vehicle, a corolla estate number UAL 953G, abandoned in a bush. He, however, regretted that the two occupants escaped.
Arorwa said the Police would investigate the incident. He added that security at the offices would be beefed up to provide 24-hour protection.
This would have been the second time this year that URA offices are set ablaze in the West Nile. In March, residents set the authority’s office in Koboko on fire after two people were shot dead and two others injured in an anti-smuggling operation.
Over 100 motorcycles that had been seized in tax-related offences were looted and the body’s documents were destroyed in the fire.
UNIDENTIFIED people on Tuesday attempted to set ablaze the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) office in Arua town. The early morning incident came after the tax body’s operatives impounded a car with about eight cartons of contraband Supermatch cigarettes.
URA northern regional manager Dan Arorwa said a petrol firebomb was thrown at the office’s back gate at around 7:00am, but the security guards put out the fire using sand.
UPDF soldiers from the 409 Brigade, who were called in to reinforce security at the premises, fired several bullets in the air to disperse a large crowd that had gathered around the building.
Arorwa said there was fear that people would take advantage of the confusion to break in and loot the impounded properties in the yard. He disclosed that although the people who attempted to burn the office were not identified, the first suspects were a gang of smugglers whom they had earlier engaged in a motor chase on the Arua-Koboko highway.
“We believe it was an attempt to retaliate because we impounded their vehicle and goods.†The chase that occurred at around 1:00am turned dramatic when the smugglers drove through the town centre before heading towards the Democratic Republic of Congo border.
Arorwa said they later found the vehicle, a corolla estate number UAL 953G, abandoned in a bush. He, however, regretted that the two occupants escaped.
Arorwa said the Police would investigate the incident. He added that security at the offices would be beefed up to provide 24-hour protection.
This would have been the second time this year that URA offices are set ablaze in the West Nile. In March, residents set the authority’s office in Koboko on fire after two people were shot dead and two others injured in an anti-smuggling operation.
Over 100 motorcycles that had been seized in tax-related offences were looted and the body’s documents were destroyed in the fire.